


The Contingency

by AbyssalGuardian



Series: The Contingency And Its Various Outtakes [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien salt, Aged-Up Character(s), Alya Salt, Don't Like Don't Read, Lila salt, MariBat, Miraculous salt, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 40,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24384721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbyssalGuardian/pseuds/AbyssalGuardian
Summary: After Marinette loses the support of her parents she decides that it’s time for her to enact one of her contingency plans and disappear.Where better to disappear than Gotham?
Relationships: Tim Drake/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: The Contingency And Its Various Outtakes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1783015
Comments: 707
Kudos: 1956
Collections: Daminette





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic. Please be gentle. I recently fell down the maribat rabbit hole and haven’t managed to drag myself out so I made this fic instead. Tags and characters will be added as necessary.
> 
> Please don't steal or repost.

“But I haven’t been bullying her Maman! _She’s_ been bullying _me_!”

“That is _enough_ Marinette! We raised you to be better than this, and until you’re ready to apologize to that poor girl and admit the truth you’re grounded! You will not be allowed to go anywhere other than-“ at this point Marinette had stopped paying attention to the scolding she was receiving. As soon as they refused to listen to her side of the story she knew it was all over. There was officially nothing left for her in Paris. It was time to enact Contingency #9: The Disappearing Act.

She wished that it hadn’t come to this, but in the back of her mind she had known it was an inevitability ever since the _liar_ had gotten her expelled all those months ago. Though she didn’t want to believe that her parents would turn on her so easily she had been preparing for this particular contingency for ages, and nobody had noticed a thing.

After patrols she had begun to carefully craft a brand new identity with the help of Tikki, Trixx, and her hard-earned hacking skills. It had taken a while to make sure they had created everything necessary for this new identity to go unnoticed by those looking for fakes, and to get semi-legitimate physical copies of the created items, but they had done it. With the identity created she had then slowly transferred the money she had been making from commission into the new account she set up under her new identity, which had taken quite a while to make sure it would slip everyone’s notice.

Kaalki had helped her carefully choose a location where she could blend in, a city where she could completely disappear. A place where none of her former friends and family would be able to find her even if they did somehow manage to pin down the city. Gotham.

Once the location was chosen and agreed upon they looked for a safe apartment to live in, and while it took a while to find one, she did find one that she really liked and so took a quick trip to Gotham to meet the landlord and rent it out under her new identity. With all the commissions she had been able to take with the free time she found herself with after she was unanimously voted out as class president, on top of the free time she had gained from her sudden loss of friends, she had more than enough money to rent out the apartment she wanted and set it up for her impending arrival with everything she would need to continue her work.

All that was left was to pack up some clothes and her ongoing commissions, grab the miracle box, and portal over.

Tuning back into her parents outraged rant just in time for them to order her to her room, she swallowed down her disappointment and despair, carefully packing away all those pesky negative emotions to work through later as she put on a blank façade, tears long since dry.

She had been _so sure_ that her parents, if no one else, would be on her side.

She had been wrong.

Now, as she entered her room and settled at her desk, she began preparing to enact her chosen contingency. Though she didn’t speak aloud, the Kwami began helping her with her preparations, pulling out a simple red suitcase and carefully packing away clothing that she rarely wore, along with some of her other necessities, settling the miracle box on top for her.

There wasn’t much left that needed to be done. Everything important had already been accounted for. All that was left was to lay some false trails on her computer and phone, as well as send out a warning to all her clients that she was rebranding and had made a new website, giving them the link and assuring them that their commission pieces would still be finished according to schedule. She made sure to include an extra note for anyone who knew she was MDC that she was relocating, and that she had had a falling out with her parents so if they ask please don’t mention anything.

She never believed that she would actually have to enact the plan. She had had so much faith in her family, her friends, but one by one they had turned their backs on her; thrown her away for a shiny new _liar_. But it seemed her faith was misplaced, as she had just seen the trust her beloved parents had for her shatter in front of her desperate, tear-stained face.

“Guardian,” Wayzz called softly as he settled on her shoulder, “Everything is ready for our departure.”

“Thank you, all of you. We’ll be opening the portal inside the new apartment. Kaalki, do you remember the coordinates?”

“Of course, Guardian. We can leave whenever you’re ready.”

As Marinette stood she took one last look around at the place she had lived her whole life. The place she had first learned to sew, first met Tikki, created her first commission, obsessed over her first crush; there were so many good memories here, in this one room. Now all those memories were tainted with the bitter sting of betrayal and sadness.

She glanced back towards the suitcase the Kwami had packed for her and was greeted with Tikki’s big, sad eyes as she looked up at her chosen.

“I’m so sorry Marinette,” she sighed softly. “I wish it had never come to this.”

“Don’t worry Tikki, we’ll get through this, together. Anyone who was so easily swayed by that liar clearly never had much faith in me to begin with, and while it will be difficult for me to get past this, I’m not worried because I have you guys with me. You’re the only family that I need to get through this.” The Kwami all rush to her as she says this, many of them teary-eyed and sniffling, and she gently pats each one while smiling softly. After a few moments, though, she knows it’s time for them to go. “Alright Kaalki, I’m ready. It’s time for us to go home.”

Kaalki quietly opens the portal into her new apartment, and when Marinette and the Kwami glide through the portal, none of them look back.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as the portal closed behind them they got to work; Marinette bringing the suitcase up into the loft area where her bed and supplies were located, the Kwami carefully placing the miracle box on the coffee table on the main floor that she had custom made to contain and hide it. It took no time at all for Marinette to unpack the items from the suitcase and to put the suitcase away before heading back down to join the Kwami, settling onto one of the soft dark leather couches around the coffee table.

Marinette gave the table one last look over before triggering the compartment she had built in to contain the miracle box, a circle in the center of the table splitting in half and retracting into the table while a platform rose up to be level with the tabletop. After retrieving the fox and dragon miraculous she closed the box and set it on the platform, re-triggering the mechanism that would close the compartment and hide the box away. While it had taken a while to construct and charm the trigger mechanism in such a way that it would only respond to her magical signature, it was definitely worth it for the sense of security it brought her and the Kwami.

Once the box was hidden away she focused on the miraculous she had withdrawn. If she was going to be wandering around in Gotham of all places she would definitely need the security that these specific miraculous could offer her, but she would have to alter their shapes to avoid any suspicion that might arise should she be caught using them. Picking up the fox miraculous she poured her magic into it, coaxing it into taking the shape of a delicate silver choker with a silver fox pendant that dangled from it, checking to make sure the change would hold, she clasped the choker around her neck, before continuing the process of changing the dragon’s appearance; the choker becoming a red beaded wraparound bracelet with a very tiny silver dragon dangling from one end.

“Well guys,” she said to Trixx and Longg. “What do you think?”

“I love it!”

“It is lovely, thank you Guardian.”

“I’m glad you guys like them. Are you sure you’re ok with me wearing your miraculous when I might not even use them?”

“Of course we are Guardian, it is an honor.”

“Thank you. Alright guys, what do we want to eat for lunch?” The topic of food quickly cut through the solemn mood that had been hanging over their heads as they all headed into the kitchen to watch Marinette prepare food for all of them. Lunch was over rather quickly and the Kwami all dispersed to find stuff to do while Marinette walked back up to the loft and pulled out her current commission pieces to work on, placing her new phone on the desk in close enough range that if an Akuma alert went off, she’d hear it. As she got lost in her work she wondered how everyone would react to her disappearance, knowing from experience that they wouldn’t truly know that she was gone for about a week and resolving not to think about it; it would just sour her mood.

When she finished the piece she had been working on for Jagged she retrieved her phone and messaged him, letting him know that it was her and to please not share her knew number with anybody that asked after her as Marinette. Within a minute she had an incoming video call from the rockstar, and though she did hesitate for a second, she accepted the call.

“Mari! My favorite niece! What’s this about you moving and rebranding eh?” The worry in his bright tone was obvious to Marinette, having been in the receiving end of it many times, and she knew that he would find out what had happened one way or another.

“Hi Uncle Jagged! Um, you know how I told you that I was having some problems with my class?”

“Yeah... why?” He knew all about the problems she was having with the class, and she could tell that the way she had phrased her question made him suspicious. It had taken her a full week to convince him not to go after the class when he first found out they were bullying her.

“It kind of escalated. A lot. My parents won’t listen to me and everything I do only seems to make it worse,” she could hear the resignation in her own voice as she avoided eye contact with one of the only adults that she knew would always support her. “It was really toxic and I couldn’t deal with it anymore. Honestly it was only a matter of time before something happened to prompt me to go with this particular plan.”

“What’s this about rebranding then? And where did you move to? What are you going to do about school?” Jagged clearly knew that she wasn’t about to say more on the subject of her class, and she was grateful for the change in topic.

“I graduated early, you know that I was already over a year ahead in the curriculum. As for the rebrand... I don’t want anybody that I knew to be able to find me, so I got myself a new identity. I am now officially Marie Annette Lenoir, so my designer alias is now MAL instead of MDC, different but still making use of my initials. As for where I live now... I decided to live in Gotham.”

“Gotham!? That’s fantastic! I’m actually from Gotham and have a permanent residence there! This will make commissioning you so much easier! Just wait until I tell Penny!” Jagged’s enthusiasm was contagious. He looked so genuinely happy that Marinette couldn’t help but giggle.

“Well I should get going now Uncle Jagged, I’ll leave you to tell Aunt Penny the good (and not so good) news.” That broke the rockstar out of his ecstatic rambling and they exchanged goodbyes before ending the call.

Marinette wandered over to her bed and flopped down with an exaggerated sigh. “I always underestimate how hyper Jagged can be,” she mused to Tikki, who had settled on her stomach, “but I’m glad that he seemed supportive.”

“Don’t worry Marinette! Jagged loves you too much to let you down like that!”

“I know Tikki,” she says with a soft chuckle, “but you know that I can’t help but worry, especially after everything that’s happened...” Tikki just looked up at her with sadness, floating up to gently nuzzle her chosen’s cheek. “Thanks Tikki. Why don’t we go down to the entertainment area and practice my summoning?” Tikki perked up at that, always excited to help Marinette learn more about the miraculous she had been tasked with guarding. 

When she had first gained guardianship of the miracle box the most she knew about the Guardian stuff was the Guardian language, which she had practiced extensively with Master Fu, but when she had expressed an interest in learning more all of the Kwami had taken it upon themselves to teach her. She had learned how to use her innate magic to connect with all of the Kwami and their miraculous, and had found out that she could summon the weapons that come with a transformation, so she could whip out a weapon whenever she needed. She could also tap into the Kwami’s powers, though she couldn’t do anything extreme yet. She had practiced with Tikki and Trixx’s powers the most, as they were very useful in her day to day life, especially being able to add Trixx’s illusion magic on top of any glamor she used.

Tikki had been coaching her on magic use ever since Marinette accepted that she was the chosen Ladybug, and that wasn’t going to change. She had ensured that Marinette was very proficient in magic, and pushed her to pick up more things that would aid her in her endeavors as Ladybug, such as gymnastics, which Mari ended up loving, and parkour, which helped her traverse the Parisian rooftops with much more dexterity. While this was all well and good Mari needed to be able to fight, which would prove more difficult to explain away, but they found that with a little magic Marinette could train with past wielders in her sleep, which is part of the reason Mari had such a hard time getting up in the morning. At first she only trained with past ladybugs, but when she became Guardian she would randomly pick other wielders of the past to train with, ensuring that she was very skilled with all the miraculous in the box, as well as the black cat. Her willingness to work with all of them and her dedication to protecting them and the miraculous lead the Kwami to love her very dearly, and many had cast blessings on her, declaring her the best guardian they had ever had.

She was pretty sure that if they thought they could get away with it they would’ve obliterated her old class for what they had done to her.

At this point she thought she might’ve let them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This involves some stuff for convenience. A few explanations. I see a lot of fics where Marinette takes Master Fu’s name, but since Chat Noir knows about him I thought “Why not take Marianne’s last name?” because Chat has never met her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mari meets Tim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue isn’t my strong suit, so it may be kind of awkward but I tried, same with descriptions. I also have no self control, hence the update so soon after the first two.

Marinette and the Kwami quickly settled into a routine after that first day. For the rest of the week Mari worked on finishing all her active commissions, taking breaks to eat and practice with the Kwami when they asked. She was grateful for the distraction, and for the lack of Akuma attacks. Though she didn’t want to admit it, she was anxious. Come Monday everyone would know that she had gone missing, and she was going to be spending a good amount of time watching the fallout.

The nerves that came with the anticipatory dread of having to go back to Paris had her falling back into her insomniac habits. She got maybe two hours of sleep every couple of days, and was drinking coffee by the pot, so it really shouldn’t have surprised her when she ran out, but it did. Now she had to go out and buy more coffee while she was certain she had one foot in the grave already. Fantastic. This was just what she needed.

“Ugh, Tikki! Trixx! Longg! We have to go to the store real quick!” Mari called out as she got dressed in some high waisted black ripped skinny jeans, a deep red short sleeved crop top, and a black leather jacket. “Meet me by the door please!” She was quick to let her hair out of its messy bun and stumble down the stairs, stopping in the living room to pull on some black combat boots with red laces and grab a small red purse for the Kwami to hide in, slinging it over her shoulder as she approached the front door where Tikki was waiting for her with Trixx and Longg.

“Are you sure about this Marinette? All you need is coffee, wouldn’t it be better to just go to sleep?” Tikki’s tone was vaguely disapproving. To be expected when Tikki had been trying to get her to sleep for like four days.

“I’m absolutely sure. I really need to finish this project and I need my coffee to do that. We’ll stop by at a cafe on the way so that I don’t pass out in the store. Besides, you guys haven’t been able to see much of the city yet because you’ve been cooped up in here with me, so it should be fun!” She would be getting her coffee no matter what anyone tried to tell her. The Kwami knew this, and resignedly agreed, all of them flying into her purse to hide while she pulled out her key so she could lock the door behind her.

The trip to the nearest cafe was quick, and the barista looked mildly horrified when she asked for so much caffeine but Mari was too tired to notice much of anything as she paid and waited for her coffee. When she finally got it she took a long sip before looking around for a place to sit, finally finding one next to a guy that looked just as sleep deprived as she was and heading over to ask him if she could please sit there, to which he responded with a nod in her general direction, though he didn’t look up from his laptop until she had seated herself. 

When their eyes met, his electric blue meeting her molten silver, they both could’ve sworn they felt something between them click, though only Marinette could determine why. She had found her true black cat. Subtly peeking at his soul she found that not only was he a perfect match for the cat, he had the potential to wield many others. They stared into each other’s eyes for a long while, until there was a crash somewhere in the cafe that snapped them out of their trance, both of them blushing and looking away with blurted apologies, gathering themselves before exchanging introductions.

“Sorry about that, I don’t know what came over me. I’m Tim.”

“It’s nice to meet you Tim, I’m Marie, sorry for staring earlier.”

“Oh no, it’s no problem! I was staring too. Are you new here? I frequent this cafe and I’ve never seen you before.” He seemed cautious in his questioning, but that could just be the sleep deprivation.

“Yeah, actually. I just moved here earlier this week. This is my first time in this cafe, I normally make my own coffee but I ran out. I decided to stop in on my way to the store so that I wouldn’t pass out,” she admitted sheepishly, glancing up at Tim’s amused expression. He was wearing some dark jeans and a red sweatshirt from what she could see. He had dark bags under his eyes but they didn’t detract from his handsome face. She noticed that he was subtly examining her as well.

“Mood, I have to come here to get coffee when my family tries to cut me off. They don’t seem to understand that sleep is for the weak, and that time can be better used doing something productive.”

“I feel that. Why should I sleep when I could finish my work and get paid instead?” This got a chuckle out of Tim, who nodded in solidarity. They continued to chat as they drank their coffee and Tim typed on his laptop, and the conversation flowed easily. Even the silences they shared were comfortable. It was amazing. She hadn’t been able to really talk to anyone her age since Lila came back. 

Mari liked him. 

His aura was comforting and he made her feel safe, she could’ve stayed in that cafe with him forever, but a press on her leg from Tikki reminded her that she did have things she needed to do. Killjoy. She had only been chatting for like... she checked the time on her phone. Two hours. She had been talking to Tim for two whole hours. 

Yikes, she really did need to get going. “Well I should probably head out. I still have to go to the store to get some coffee before I head home and finish up my commission.” Tim seemed disappointed at this, as he too checked the time, doing a double take when it registered that he had been talking to a girl he had only just met for two hours.

“I see. I hadn’t realized it was getting so late. I should be going as well, but first, do you want to exchange numbers?” Though he was nervous as he asked, Mari could tell that he was hopeful, and the fact that he, her true cat, wanted to continue contact with her made her extremely happy. She shot him a blinding smile that seemed to daze him a bit as she nodded and they exchanged phones, putting in numbers and sending a few texts to make sure they had gotten it right in their tired states. They then exchanged goodbyes as Mari left for the store, quickly making her purchases before heading home.

As soon as they got through the front door she was rushed by the three Kwami that had accompanied her.

“Oh my gosh! Marinette! I can’t believe we just met your true cat!” Tikki’s excitement was palpable, and apparently contagious as all the other Kwami in the apartment flew towards her and circled around her, chattering excitedly and getting the details out of Trixx and Longg as Tikki followed the amused Marinette into the kitchen, where she made a fresh cup of her newly purchased coffee.

“I know Tikki! His soul was so kind, just being around him made me feel safer than I’ve ever felt around Chat. I hope we can meet in person again soon.”

“Oh Marinette,” Tikki sighed, still upset that her chosen had to deal with a partner that did nothing but get in the way and harass her, “we’ll have to get Plagg to talk to him, and if he still doesn’t shape up then he’ll help us take back his miraculous, don’t worry.”

Marinette smiled softly as she cradled Tikki in her cupped hands. “Thank you Tikki. At least I know that you’ll always stand by me. Now, I should get back to work. Let me know if an Akuma alert goes off, okay?” She called as she made her way out of the kitchen and up the stairs with her fresh mug of coffee, intent on finishing her last active commission piece.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for a quick peek back in Paris.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, descriptions aren’t my strong suit, so they may be a little wonky. Other than that, enjoy the new chapter!

Come Monday Marinette felt like she was drowning in nerves. The only thing that had been keeping her somewhat calm had been the text messages that she would receive from Tim at random times of the day about random things; whether he was lamenting over a cold case, complaining about his brothers, or trash talking people’s bad fashion decisions, his texts always managed to calm her down.

She hoped that her texts did the same for him.

She couldn’t stall any longer. It was time to see if anyone had noticed her disappearance.

Pushing down the waves of dread and panic, she tried her best to center herself before working up the nerve to transform with Trixx.

She took one last centering breath as she said the magic words. “Alright, Trixx, let’s pounce!”

Once the magic had washed over her she looked in the mirror to make sure the costume was like they had discussed. She had decided to go with a sort of marbled fox; she wore a black hooded vest edged and lined with silvery white that extended into coattails in the back that reached her knees, the tails having a sort of ombré effect that transitioned from the black of the vest to a silvery white color at the tips.

Underneath the vest was a form fitting black bodysuit with attached gloves that transitioned to the silvery color at the elbows, where her forearms were wrapped in a cloth of black and silver that extended over her hands in a mimicry of fingerless gloves; displaying the black clawed fingers below.

The same ombré effect started at her knees and continued down her combat boots. The combat boots had silvery laces, the bottom of the boots black lined with silver.

There was a silver lined black belt around her waist with various pockets that contained little things she could use to disorient; she had gotten the idea from the bat boys. The traditional fox flute was a mix of black and silver to match the rest of her ensemble, and was slung over her back as normal.

Instead of the usual mask, she had one that attached to the bodysuit and covered the lower half of her face, her eyes glowing a silver color in the shadows cast over her face by the fox eared hood.

Her hair was in two braids that extended to her waist, and to keep with the theme it had the same ombré effect. Overall she felt that she looked pretty intimidating, and she was happy with her new look.

Now it was time to go check up on the betrayers.

With a nod to Kaalki, a portal to Paris was opened in an out of the way alley, Mari pulling Trixx’s illusion magic around herself tightly so that she couldn’t be seen by anyone even if they were staring her in the face and walking through the portal, handing Kaalki a sugar cube on the other side as she ducked into her vest to hide with Tikki.

After Kaalki was situated she jumped up onto the rooftops and made her way to the school, where she sat on the roof and pulled out her miraculous issue phone to look at the news and check the Ladyblog. There was nothing about her disappearance on either, so she carefully snuck her way into her old classroom to see if they mentioned anything.

It was exactly as she had expected. She had arrived just in time for Ms. Bustier to start class, and immediately after greeting the class she dropped the bomb. “Now, as I’m sure we’re all aware Marinette hasn’t been in class the last few days.” _Few days? She had been gone for like a week!_ “And while her parents were sure that she would come around, it seems that Marinette has gone missing-“ this prompted an uproar from the class, but Bustier continued to talk right over them. Marinette didn’t care to hear what they were going to say; she had gotten the confirmation that she had come for.

She slipped out amongst the class’s outburst. Through the windows of the class she could see Lila’s crocodile tears and the way everyone had rushed to comfort her. That was all she needed to see. The only question she had now was whether her parents thought she had run away or been taken, as well as whether they would take advantage of their relationship with Nadja to spread the missing persons report.

To gain this knowledge she had to slip into her old home through the balcony she had once loved. Her parents were in her room, the bakery closed for the day. It was clear that they were very unhappy, and she only paid enough attention to get the information she needed; they thought she had run away, and they were definitely going to use Nadja if she wasn’t found in Paris within a month.

Oh joy, another contingency to enact. This one being Contingency #9c: Records? What Records? Where she would systemically delete all records that indicated she had ever legally existed, along with any image and mention of her that appeared on anything with an internet connection. Oh the chaos that’s going to cause. Plagg is going to love it. So is Trixx for that matter.

It was only her problem if any Akuma resulted from it.

She left her old room as swiftly as she had entered, staying in Paris for a few more hours in case of an Akuma, of which there somewhat surprisingly ended up being none.

The part of her that still cared about the people who had so callously stabbed her in the back was a little disappointed, but she quickly crushed that disappointment with the reminder that if they really cared they would’ve believed her, who they had known for years, over the liar they had barely known.

She was disappointed, but couldn’t honestly say that she was surprised. People had only ever come to her when they needed something, and if that wasn’t a red flag then she didn’t know what was.

After she was reasonably sure no Akuma were going to crop up she decided to head back to Gotham, where it was only 10 o’clock. When she was safely back in her apartment she sat cross-legged on the bed and meditated to calm her lingering nerves, remaining as such for around half an hour before opening her eyes and standing back up.

Now that she had finished the thing causing her stress she was promptly hit in the face with exhaustion, which meant it was time for more coffee. While she waited for the elixir of life to finish brewing she checked her texts, finding that she had a few missed ones from Tim.

The first couple were him lamenting over how his family had cut him off from coffee once again. The latest one said that he was going to be in the cafe they met at, if she wanted to meet up. As if that was even a question.

She responded positively, and decided that if he was being cut off he could probably use one of her specialty energy beverages. She used to have her own secret menu at the bakery, though the university kids that frequented seemed convinced that she gave them magical potions; not too far off, honestly.

She put her hair up into a crown braid, leaving a few pieces down to frame her face, and changed into a red cold-shoulder long sleeved dress that flared out at the waist and went down to her knees. It was embroidered with black flowers along the hem, with some more flowers embroidered along the skirt. She paired the dress with some black thigh high socks and black ankle booties with red accents.

After she was dressed she went downstairs and made two thermoses of her most energizing coffee, carefully tucking them into a black backpack with a box of macaroons she had made the day before.

Once that was done she put on a tasteful black coat, slung the backpack over her shoulders, and made sure Tikki, Trixx, and Longg were situated in her purse before heading off to the cafe to meet up with Tim.

The cafe was only a few minutes away from her apartment building, so she arrived pretty quickly, heading inside to find Tim in the same spot he had been when they first met, though this time he was wearing a business suit and looked way more sleep deprived than last time, if the bags under his eyes and multiple empty coffee cups were any indication.

She walked over and greeted him softly so as not to startle him. “Hello Tim! It’s nice to see you again!”

He looked up. “Marie, hey. You got here pretty quickly.”

“My apartment is only a few minutes walk from here,” she explained as she sat down at the table with him, slipping her backpack off and pulling out the macaroons and thermoses. “I figured that if you were cut off you could use one of my special energizing coffees, and I brought some macaroons that I made. Is that okay?” Though she was nervous, she did her best to hide it as Tim gazed at her, assessing.

“Yeah sure, why not,” he finally said as he took a sip from the thermos she held out to him, immediately looking more awake. “Holy shit. I haven’t felt this energized in... forever! What goddess are you that you make such energizing coffee?” His praise made her blush as he went to try one of her macaroons, face lighting up as he bit into it. “These are amazing. You are officially my favorite person right now.”

This served to make her flush even more as she tried to deny it. “They’re not that good,” she practically squeaked in embarrassment.

Tim seemed very amused by this. “Don’t sell yourself short, Marie. I would take your coffee and macaroons over store bought any day. What did you put in this coffee to make me feel so alive?”

“Trade secret, sorry.”

He pouted. Honest to god pouted. But then he smirked. “I guess I’ll just have to come to you whenever I need my coffee fix from now on. You have just provided me with the most effective coffee I’ve ever had, after all.” His smirk only grew as he watched her reddening face.

“You’re horrible,” she whined, “stop teasing me.”

He chuckled, the bastard. “Alright, alright, I’m sorry Marie. Seriously though, can you be my coffee provider?” Tim’s eyes followed her as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, taking in her outfit and remembering what she said about being an aspiring designer. “And can I commission you? I’m guessing you made what you’re wearing and you did a fantastic job. Reminds me of my favorite designer, actually.”

“I don’t think I have the time to be your personal coffee dealer Tim. I am willing to let you be one of my clients, however. You have shown that you know how to appreciate good fashion. Who’s your favorite designer?” Her face had finally returned to its’ normal color at this point, but the way Tim lit up added to a gut feeling made her certain that it wouldn’t last long.

“MDC is my favorite, though they recently rebranded so I guess it’s MAL now. I’ve been following their designs for years and I’ve always wanted to commission them but I haven’t been able.”

_And the blush was back. Great._

Marinette did her best to calm her nerves as she pulled out her business card, handing it over to Tim. “Well then you’re in luck. I happen to be your favorite designer.” Tim looked from her to the card and back again in shock. When he finally seemed to have processed that she was indeed telling the truth, he got excited. Really excited.

“Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I made friends with MAL! Dick is going to be _sooo_ jealous! We’ve wanted to commission you for forever!”

“Calm down please Tim, I don’t need everybody hearing that I’m MAL. If you want to keep talking about this we should probably head back to my apartment. Oh! I can take your measurements at my apartment,” she mused. “I could actually get started on your commission today, depending on what you want.”

This only served to make Tim even more excited as he shoved his laptop into his bag and nodded his head in enthusiastic agreement, prompting Mari to get ready to leave as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll be doing reactions to her disappearance in a few chapters, but for now all we see is what Mari needs to confirm that they’ve noticed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim and Mari back at Mari’s apartment. We get to see a bit of Tim’s POV!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Switching character pov’s is weird, but I tried.

They walked to her apartment in comfortable silence, Tim practically vibrating with excitement over finally being able to commission his favorite designer. It seemed to amuse Marie, at the very least, as she led him up to her apartment.

“You can put your bag down wherever,” she told him as she placed her backpack on a chair near the door, taking off her coat and purse as well and hanging them up.

Tim did as she suggested, placing his laptop bag down on one of the couches around her coffee table as he glanced around her apartment, mildly surprised at how nice it was.

Marie mentioned that she had to go grab her sketchbook and tape measure, and asked him to please sit as she retrieved them.

This gave Tim time to think about how exactly he had ended up here.

He had only known Marie for a few days; had only met her in person once previously. The sense of belonging that he felt when they first locked eyes, the sense of _rightness_ that he felt when they spoke, when they texted. He had never felt anything like it before. It was like he was _meant_ to be close to her, and he didn’t know how to feel about that.

It was almost as though her very soul cried out to him. He wanted to protect her, to keep her safe, and while he had wanted to keep people safe before, he’d never had as strong an urge as he did with Marie.

He couldn’t find it in him to be concerned. The sensations were too natural for him to work himself up over it.

When he first met her in the cafe he hadn’t known what to think. He’d been running on probably four hours of sleep over the last 48 hours, and she looked just as sleep deprived as him. Maybe even more so. It was very rare for him to meet people with similar insomniac tendencies to his.

He was half convinced that she was a hallucination.

The new number in his phone convinced him that she was, in fact, a real person. She was anxious and shy, but a real person nonetheless.

Even when obviously sleep-deprived Marie was so sweet. She was like a literal ray of sunshine, and her very presence seemed like a blessing. The fact that she was new to Gotham was kinda suspect, though. People don’t tend to move to Gotham willingly. She appeared to have moved for work purposes, though, so he had let it slide and resolved to look into her later, though when he had compiled his file on her he hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary.

As Tim mused over this Marie had grabbed her sketchbook, tape measure, and a platter of pastries as she made her way back to where Tim was seated in the living area. She sat on the couch across from him as she placed the platter on the coffee table, which was made of a solid dark wood, the only thing that broke up the dark table was the red and black yin-yang symbol in the center.

_Interesting choice._

“Alright,” she smiled brightly at him, “let’s talk about what you want to commission me for.”

_Jesus. If she kept smiling so brightly he was going to need sunglasses._

“Can you just make me a whole new wardrobe?” His ultimate dream; an MAL exclusive wardrobe.

She seemed pretty taken aback by this. “I mean, I _could_ make you a whole new wardrobe but it would take me a while. Why do you want a whole new wardrobe?”

“I want to eventually only have clothes made by you. I wasn’t kidding when I said you were my favorite designer. I followed you as MDC for a long while before you rebranded. Does MAL stand for something, by the way?”

“I have no idea why you would want to only wear my stuff, even I don’t only wear my stuff. And yes, MAL are my initials, Marie Annette Lenoir. MDC stood for ‘Marie Designs Clothes.’ Pretty lame but you know how it is.” He must be really sleep deprived if he couldn’t put together that it was her initials after he had made that file on her.

They got back to business after that. It took a while for her to take notes of everything he wanted, and she made quick work of taking his measurements; especially when he almost passed out from lack of sleep when he stood up.

He was too sleep deprived to be embarrassed.

Once the measurements were taken she guided him to the kitchen and made him some more of her super-energizing coffee. It seemed even stronger this time, which he hadn’t thought possible.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be my coffee dealer?” His tone laced with teasing skepticism. “This is the second time you’ve given me super coffee. As the goddess of coffee I think you would be the perfect coffee dealer.”

“Tim,” she sighed, “you saying coffee dealer makes it sound illegal. I can’t in good conscience keep providing you with coffee when you clearly don’t sleep much in the first place.” She cut him off when he opened his mouth to protest. “I am willing to compromise, however. When your family cuts you off, if you can give me a good reason as to why you need the coffee, I’ll give you the coffee. If I think that your reasoning isn’t good enough then I get to hit you with my Insomnia Cure; a special drink I came up with to get insomniacs to sleep. It’s never failed. What do you say?”

He thought it over for a minute and couldn’t see a reason why not. He’d get his own personal coffee dealer, even if she did occasionally trick him into sleeping. He probably needed the sleep, if he was being honest. “Deal. But I get to call you my coffee dealer.”

She let out a long-suffering sigh. “I can live with that. But you can’t tell anyone that I’m where you get your coffee. I don’t need your family coming after me for giving you the stuff when they’ve cut you off. And you need to text me a warning so that I can let you know if I’m not here or so that I can finish what I’m working on.”

“That’s fair.”

“Then we have a deal.” The smile she gave him as she held out her hand to seal the deal made him want to melt.

_Marie is too pure for this world_ , he thought as he reached out his own hand to shake hers, _I’m so glad that I met her._

Once they had shaken hands and Marie had finished creating her magical energy concoction they headed back to the couches, where Marie started sketching out concepts for his commission. He took the time to get a bit of his own work done, glad for the comfortable silence.

Lord knows the manor was never so peaceful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is where some of the salt starts coming in.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for some salt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some background for clarification. Mari and Tim are 17, as is the rest of Mari’s old class. She still got the miraculous when she was 13, but Lila didn’t show up until their first year of Lycée. Mari’s crush only lasted like 2 years because she realized it was stalkerish when Chat did some of the same things. So some of the events are pushed back but they’re only important if I mention them. Bustier is still their teacher because I didn’t want to make a new one. Maybe the school is an experimental one where the teachers move up with the class or something. I’ll figure it out later.
> 
> Now that that’s out of the way, enjoy my attempt at some salt!

The day after she made the deal with Tim she received notice of the first akuma attack since she had moved to Gotham.

How coincidental that it coincided with Gabriel Agreste’s return from a business trip.

She really needed Plagg to investigate to confirm her suspicions. While correlation doesn’t equal causation, it can be cause for suspicion, and Gabriel was her top suspect.

There would be a sort of poetic irony if he really did turn out to be Hawkmoth. Who would guess that Adrien ‘Sunshine’ Agreste’s reclusive, neglectful father was Hawkmoth?

Marinette. Marinette would make that guess.

His being akumatized right when she started to look into him as a suspect was too convenient. She didn’t care if Sunshine Noir wanted to knock him off the suspect list because he was too sentimental to be able to comprehend the fact that it was _very_ possible for his shut-in of a father to be Hawkmoth.

Noir was on thin ice for his poor behavior anyway.

Ever since the disaster that was Miracle Queen, when she had lost all of her temp heroes, Chat had been pushing her boundaries more and more. The incident had occurred almost two years ago, and it was during this disaster that Master Fu made her the Guardian. Chat Noir didn’t seem to realize this. He hadn’t paid attention to who Master Fu gave guardianship to, and remained unaware that it was her. 

It helped that she hadn’t trusted anyone enough to bring in new temp heroes. It gave Chat the illusion that she hadn’t met the new Guardian. He seemed convinced that with Fu out of the picture she would finally give him a chance.

Boy was he about to get a rude awakening. If he bothered to listen to her anyways.

She gathered up the Kwami that would be coming with her and called for her transformation, walking through the portal Kaalki had created for her before pulling up the news to see what she was dealing with. Fortunately, it was just Monsieur Pigeon again, so things would be over pretty quickly.

As she swung towards the battle she noted that Chat Noir had actually bothered to show up for once. Maybe he had a change of heart?

Chat perked up as soon as he saw her, taking his eyes off the Akuma as he leered at her. “Well hello M’lady, nice of you to _drop in_.”

She didn’t know why she bothered to hope at this point.

“Look out-!” And there went Chat Noir. Swatted into the Seine in his distraction. “That idiot,” she mumbled under her breath as she facepalmed. “I should wrap this up before he gets back. Wouldn’t want him to make things even worse.”

Luckily, since it was only the akuma, no sentimonster, the akuma was easy to defeat. 

Chat Noir returned just as she cast her Cure, and judging by the dopey smile on his face as he looked at her, she was going to have to arrange a team meeting to talk with him later that day.

“Great job Bugaboo! What do you say we go out and celebrate. I know the perfect-“

She cut him off as quickly as she could. “Sorry Chat, I’ve got to go, I’m about to transform back! I’ll meet up with you at the Eiffel Tower to discuss some leads at 11 o’clock tonight, ok?” She didn’t wait for his confirmation, already swinging away so she wouldn’t have to deal with both him _and_ Alya, who she had noticed running towards them.

She couldn’t help but notice all the missing persons posters with her face plastered on them as she made her way towards a secluded alley. It almost made her feel bad for Disappearing.

Almost.

The description of why she was missing was so condescending she felt legitimately insulted.

_Marinette left when her friends shared their concerns over her behavior with us. We placed some restrictions on her that she must not have liked because we haven’t seen her since the day her classmates informed us of their concerns about her. She doesn’t understand what she’s doing and can’t possibly survive on her own, so please bring her back to us if you find her. We only want to help her go back to the sweet girl she used to be._

The implication that she couldn’t possibly survive without outside help was laughable. She had been surviving almost entirely on her own since she was old enough to walk. Her parents were always too busy to check on her the way they should’ve. They had raised her in a way that meant she had practically raised herself. And the part about her not understanding what she was doing was ignorant at best. She had always been the top her class, ahead of the curriculum, and she always planned and prepared in advance. They knew this.

Maybe she should’ve left some traces of her planning so they could suffer over how long she had been planning. How thorough she had been in her preparations. But if they knew then they probably would’ve gotten jointly akumatized, which would not be good at all.

She ignored the rest of the posters as she slipped into the alley, dropping her transformation and allowing Tikki to recharge. She still had a good eight hours before she had to meet up with Chat, and she didn’t have anything pressing to work on back at her apartment, so she decided that she would kill time getting supplies for Tim’s commission.

With that in mind she cast a glamour over herself so that nobody would recognize her, asked Trixx to reinforce it just in case, and headed off to her favorite fabric shop.

She ended up finding plenty of fabrics that she was excited to use for Tim’s commission, as well as more thread and some nice buttons. Her shopping trip took a good four hours, but she still had another four left before her meeting with Chat, so she went back to her apartment, set an alarm for 15 minutes before she was due to meet with Chat, and started on a few pieces for Tim’s commission.

She got a decent amount of work done, and the results so far were pretty good if she did say so herself. When Mari was designing and creating she was in her element, the process of creation soothing her, and she definitely needed to calm her nerves before meeting with Chat.

When the alarm went off she quickly finished what she was working on before calling for her transformation and teleporting to Paris, swinging towards the Eiffel Tower to meet up with her partner, who was already waiting for her at their usual spot.

If she had to guess he had been waiting for around 30 minutes.

The meeting wasn’t due to start for another 5.

She let out a quiet sigh as she greeted him. “Hello Chat.”

His ears perked up as his head swiveled towards her, his toxic green eyes raking over her form. “M’lady! You’re here!”

“Well I am the one who asked you to meet me here,” she said wryly, “it would look pretty bad if I didn’t show up to my own meeting.”

He perked up even more, which she didn’t think was possible. They did call him Sunshine for a reason, though. “You didn’t need to call a meeting just to see me Bugaboo. You know I’d follow you anywhere.” 

He winked at her, and she was slightly disgusted because she knew for a fact that that statement was true. He had once tried to find out her identity by following her home and it had taken her _hours_ to shake him off.

“The meeting isn’t an excuse, Noir. I really do need to talk to you.”

“Oh? And what did you need to talk to me about?” The way he said this gave her the distinct impression that they were on completely different pages.

“You.”

He looked a little shocked as he asked for clarification. “Me? What about me?”

The sigh she let out was so exasperated that Chat looked a little concerned. “The fact that you don’t think you’ve done anything to warrant me talking to you about it is concerning. Chat, we’re partners, you’re supposed to have my back, not stare at it. You haven’t been showing up to battles, you spend so long staring and making passes at me when you _do_ show up that you tend to get put out of commission, and you’ve been making me uncomfortable. If you can’t pull yourself together then I might have to bench you. Permanently.”

He had the nerve to look offended. “Well maybe I would show up more often if you would just admit that we’re meant to be! You know I have a lot going on in my civilian life, I can’t always get away. And only the Guardian can take away a miraculous, you know that. We haven’t even met the new one, you really think they would bench me? You need me. Ladybugs and Cats need to be active at the same time. There’s no way you’d actually go through with it.” The way he became more smug as he talked made her want to punch him in the face. He actually thought he was necessary for her to remain active. 

She almost laughed, but repressed it to keep him from getting worked up enough to do something drastic. “Chat, we’ve talked about this. While the souls of the wielders of our miraculous complement each other it does not make us soulmates. We are not meant to be. The way you’ve been acting is unacceptable and if you want to keep being Chat then I need you to shape up. Actually coming to battles and lasting more than five minutes would be a good start.” Her yo-yo beeped, and when she checked it she saw a message from Plagg saying that he would talk to Adrien later, and that Tikki had told him about their suspicions of Gabriel. He was going to investigate for her. _Perfect_.

“Just think about what I said, all right? I have to go.” And before Chat could even open his mouth to respond, she was gone.

When she was finally back in her Gotham apartment she dropped her transformation and fell on her bed, staring up at the ceiling blankly.

“I’m so tired of dealing with him,” she stated as she reached up to rub her eyes. “How long do you think Plagg’s investigation will take?”

“Well, it depends on how often he can get away from Adrien. He knows that Chat’s really stressing you out so he told me he’d try to confirm it as soon as he could. Plagg would pick you over that spoiled brat any day.” Tikki’s reassurance made her feel a lot better, but she still worried.

She didn’t know how much longer she could put up with Adrien without snapping. Especially now that she knew her true cat was so close by.

She bet that Tim would make a much better partner than Chat Noir. Too bad she couldn’t test that theory yet, Noir was necessary for her to avoid Gabriel’s suspicion. If she took the ring away now she’d have to deal with one nasty akuma, and she would prefer to avoid that until she had decent backup.

 _Or I could curse him,_ she mused, _make him unable to wield the miraculous, make sure he can’t be akumatized over the loss of the ring._

She had given him more warnings than he deserved, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully the salt wasn’t too bad. Reading salt and writing it are very different, as I’ve discovered. Next chapter will have some more Timinette sweetness and a hint more salt. Maybe.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Timinette sweetness and an akuma attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on the feedback from last chapter you will be happy to know that Chat is absolutely getting cursed at some point. 
> 
> I tried my best for the akuma, though I don’t really describe the fight because writing fight scenes is weird. Maybe I’ll write a more detailed fight scene in a later chapter.
> 
> This is probably the longest chapter so far, so I hope you enjoy it!

That first akuma opened the floodgates. Hawkmoth seemed determined to make sure she got zero sleep and had to put up with Chat as often as possible.

There had been at least one akuma every other day for two whole weeks so far. People were akumatized over the stupidest things too. It was like good ol’ Hawky wasn’t even trying.

Unless he was trying to frustrate her. If that was his goal he was doing fantastic.

On the bright side she had been spending more time with Tim, who seemed to be really interested in her creative process. It was nice to be able to sit quietly with someone else while they both worked. As a bonus, because Tim was her client, whenever she finished a piece or wanted his input he was right there.

Currently she was keeping all of the finished pieces in her apartment for him. He wanted to troll his brothers by suddenly having a full MAL wardrobe, said he was going to see how long it took them to notice. The only one that could rival Tim in fangirl status over her work was Dick, who split his time between Gotham and Bludhaven.

He was going to switch out the wardrobe while Dick was in Bludhaven and begin the troll from there. Apparently most of his family were fans of her work, so the chaos that will ensue when they finally notice will be glorious.

They were both looking forward to it. He had promised her video.

This arrangement also benefitted their deal. Some of the first things she had completed were pajamas, so when she hit him with the Insomnia Cure he could be comfortable when he inevitably passed out on her couch.

The first time she tricked him into drinking it he had attempted to stay awake to spite her. It hadn’t worked out very well for him.

He had fallen face first on the floor, passed out before he even hit he ground. She debated just leaving him on the floor to teach him a lesson, but she couldn’t. He looked so uncomfortable on the ground that she felt sympathetic, and so she dragged him over to the nearest couch and dumped him on it, throwing a blanket over him and leaving him to sleep.

He must’ve been awake for quite a while before she knocked him out because he slept for a solid twelve hours.

He looked like he felt better when he woke up so she ignored his complaints. They were half-hearted anyway.

She jerked out of her musings when she sensed someone coming up behind her. When she turned she saw that it was Chat, who had actually been showing up to attacks. He hadn’t stopped harassing her though. Or lasting longer than like five minutes.

Honestly he was pretty useless. And he had been a decent partner in the beginning. What a shame.

The akuma today hadn’t even required a lucky charm. She had to summon one after the battle was over so she could cast her Cure. Which is why she was thinking about this stuff in the first place.

Mari quickly refocused on Chat when he got even closer. He seemed like he wanted to pester her again, so as soon as her earrings beeped she said a quick “I’m about to transform back! See you later Chat Noir!” And swung out of there as fast as she could, quickly teleporting back to her apartment before Chat could come looking for her.

Aside from the akuma her day had been going pretty well. She had finished a few more commissions and Tim was coming over for lunch to hang out.

She was looking forward to it.

Glancing at the clock, she noticed that Tim would be arriving in around 30 minutes, plenty of time for her to whip up some sandwiches and make some coffee. Normal coffee, that is. She also pulled out some cookies that she had made the night before while she was stress baking.

Just as she finished putting everything together there was a knock at the door and she checked the clock; right on time.

She opened the door and was greeted with Tim’s handsome face, his eyes locking onto hers as they both smiled in greeting.

“Tim! Long time no see,” she winked, “come on in, I just finished setting up.” 

He smirked. “Marie, it’s so good to see you. It feels like it’s been ages.”  
He had been over last night, hiding from his brothers for some reason.

They shared a laugh as Tim stepped through the door and headed towards the dining table, where a cup of coffee was calling his name.

Marinette shook her head in exasperation as Tim downed the whole glass of coffee before looking up at her in disappointment.

“No super coffee?” He pouted.

“No Timmy, you know the deal, you need to give me a good reason for why you need it.”

He thought about it for a second before his face lit up in realization. “I have like five meetings to attend when I go back to work and all of them are with people I hate.” 

_Damn. That’s actually a solid reason._

She pretended to think it over, a finger tapping against her chin before she nodded her agreement. “I _guess_ that’s a decent reason for me to provide you with the nectar of the gods.”

He gasped and placed a hand over his chest in mock offense. “Coffee goddess,” she rolled her eyes at him, “have I not been a loyal worshipper? Is my devotion worth nothing?” As he got more dramatic it got harder for her to keep a straight face. She had no idea how he was managing. “ _Gasp_ , has someone else stolen your favor?”

She tried her hardest to keep the laughter out of her voice as she responded in kind. “Do you think me a cruel goddess, denying you nectar for the sake of your health?” Her expression turned exaggeratedly sad. “Am I such a terrible goddess that you believe someone else could steal my favor from you, my most faithful worshipper? Maybe I should relinquish my title so you might find a new god to worship.”

This made him backtrack. Fast. “Noooo! I didn’t mean it Marie, I swear! You’re the best goddess I’ve ever met! Please don’t cut me off!” His mild panic was cute, if not hilarious.

She busted out laughing, Tim quickly joining her. When they finally calmed down they settled at the table to eat, swapping tidbits of information about how their days had been so far, Mari leaving out the akuma, of course.

As far as she was aware nobody outside of Paris knew about the Hawkmoth situation, and she wasn’t about to change that anytime soon.

When they finished eating they moved to the kitchen, Tim sitting at the counter as Marinette worked on making him a thermos of “nectar” as he liked to call it. They chatted idly as she worked, enjoying each other’s company before Tim would have to leave for work.

As soon as she had finished the coffee she led Tim upstairs so he could see some of the pieces that she had finished that morning. He was really excited about that. He wanted to try them all on but didn’t have the time before he would have to leave for work, which he pouted about.

“Tim, if you really want to try them on today then you can just come over after your meetings are finished. You’ve done it before.”

He paused in his pouting to consider this. “...You right.”

“Of course I’m right! When have you known me to be wrong?”

He opened his mouth to answer before closing it, brow scrunching up in thought. “I got nothing,” he said eventually, “what are you, magic?”

She sighed. “No, Tim, I’m not magic. I’m just really lucky.”

“Fair.” His phone beeped. “I have to go back to work,” he complained. “All those meetings! Just kill me now.”

“But if I killed you what would I do with all the clothes I’ve been making you?”

“...Don’t kill me. Those clothes are mine, I want them.”

She laughed as she gently pushed Tim towards the door. “Don’t worry, I would never give clothes I made for you to anyone else. I would probably just wear them myself.”

As he choked on a breath at her statement she shoved him out the door, placing the coffee thermos in his hand. She gave him a quick “Bye Tim! I’ll see you after you’re done with work!” Before she shut the door while he was still recovering.

He was really cute when he was flustered.

“Aww, Marinette! You guys are so cute!” Tikki squeaked as she flew out of her hiding spot and into Mari’s face. “I’m glad that you found him. It’s been a long time since you’ve been comfortable enough to joke around with someone.”

Marinette smiled softly. “I know Tikki. I’m glad I met him too.” She slapped her hands to her cheeks and shook her head. “Less talking more working! Since Tim’s probably coming back after work I want to try and finish a few more things for him.” She perked up at the thought of how she would get to see Tim again even though she had literally just shoved him out her door.

That was when her akuma alert went off. For the second time that day.

“Dang it! Doesn’t Hawkmoth have a life! How long does he sit in his lair and brood while waiting for new victims! This is getting ridiculous!” Marinette let out an exasperated sigh as she portalled back to Paris as Ladybug and swung towards the explosions.

Wow. Actual explosions. She hadn’t seen an akuma that made those in quite a while.

When she arrived on scene she took note of the akuma. Its skin was completely black with molten gold showing through the cracks all over its body. When it moved ash would trail from its limbs and the earth seemed to melt in its footsteps. The face was like a jack o’lantern, the eyes and mouth carved out and emitting light. Overall, it was pretty freaky.

 _And deadly_ , she thought as she watched it throw bombs from a nearly unnoticeable belt across its chest at the gawking passerby, quickly swooping in and herding as many civilians as she could away from the akuma, giving directions to the nearest akuma shelter when she noticed it was a large tourist group.

There was a clang behind her and she whipped around to see Chat Noir trying to free his baton from where it was stuck in the akuma’s body, barely managing to pull it free and jump back before he could get hit by a bomb. It looked like part of the baton had started to melt. _Interesting_.

It seemed like the outer part of the akuma was meant to keep the lava it was made of from hardening.

She glanced at a nearby fire hydrant, determinedly not looking at the partial, burnt corpses littered about.

This akuma seemed pretty straight-forward, though it was definitely deadly. 

And that was when the sentimonster arrived. Just what she needed.

The sentimonster went with the akuma’s theme and was a giant rock monster with the same sort of jack o’lantern face and glowing insides. Only where the akuma threw bombs the sentimonster spewed lava out of its mouth.

 _Well, fuck_ , she thought as she looked between the akuma and the sentimonster. _Chat better last longer that five minutes_.

The battle was long and brutal. Chat had left when his baton had been melted. She was alone, which was _really_ bad when she had two opponents. As she caught her lucky charm, a plush mouse with the miraculous symbol on its chest, she knew what she had to do.

Good thing she kept the miracle box in her yo-yo during akuma fights.

She ducked into her alley and pulled out the box, dropping her transformation as she pulled the mouse miraculous out of the box and put it on.

“Mullo, get squeaky!” Once the transformation was complete she split herself into three and transferred miraculous as necessary, so she was the dragon, fox, and ladybug all at once in three bodies. She used an illusion to make sure nobody could tell the mouse was active, so it looked like Ladybug was going into battle with a new fox and dragon.

The fox was the same as when she used it to gain confirmation of her disappearance.

The dragon wore a dark red qipao with golden detailing that reached to her ankles with slits up to her hips on the sides for ease of movement. The dragon’s symbol was in the center of her chest. Underneath that was a pair of black footed leggings with the feet reinforced similarly to that of the ladybug. 

There were wrist length black gloves on her hands, the rest of her arms covered in a translucent skin-colored material that molded to her arms and gave the same protection as the material of the ladybug suit. 

Her hair was in a bun with two sword-shaped hair sticks sticking out, pieces of hair left out to frame her face. The mask was a simple domino in red with gold edging.

Instead of the sword the previous dragon used she had two 10-inch daggers sheathed horizontally at the small of her back.

With the illusion complete Marinette, all three of her, took off towards the akuma once again. The appearance of two new miraculous holders obviously shocked the akuma, who was easily taken out when the dragon, Ryū, used Water Dragon.

The fox, Teumessian, stayed out of sight for the most part and provided illusions to assist.

The sentimonster took a lot longer. Mari ended up pretty injured between the three of her, between dodging lava blasts and chunks of buildings and getting smacked by the giant molten rock monster, but she defeated it. She was exhausted afterwards, but quickly cast her Cure once the akuma and amok were purified.

Even after the Cure she retained some bruises, which would be fun to explain to a worried Tim later.

The victim was a demolition expert that had been unjustly fired and gotten angry, which Hawkmoth had taken advantage of, though the akuma had been strangely weak for such a strong emotion. Hawkmoth must be pushing his limits with how many akuma he had been creating.

Once he had been taken care of she went back to her favorite alley, dropped the illusion, merged the three of her together, and dropped her transformations. Kaalki opened a portal without a word and as soon as they were back in her apartment, in the loft because Kaalki could be nice like that, she collapsed onto her bed and decided to take a quick nap, asking Tikki to wake her in half an hour so she could clean herself up before Tim got back.

The fight had lasted longer than she thought.

At least she had one more reason to give the public of how Chat Noir was a terrible partner to Ladybug for when she eventually replaced him. The list was already so long that it made her kinda sad.

Tikki woke her after 30 minutes as she asked and she quickly changed into some comfortable sweats and a too-large Jagged Stone t-shirt, wincing at the already dark bruising on her abdomen and in a few spots along her arms.

She texted Tim to tell him that since she provided lunch she expected him to provide dinner before sitting at her desk and carefully starting to work on a few pieces to pass the time while she waited for Tim, who should be arriving in about an hour based on his text confirming he would get some takeout after he finished his last meeting and giving her an ETA, which she appreciated.

Marinette stopped working when she got a text from Tim saying he was about five minutes out, heading down to the kitchen to get some coffee ready as she waited.

She opened the door with a bright smile on her face when he arrived, which he returned. “Hello, again. Ready to try on some MAL originals?”

The way he lit up made her smirk. “You know it! We should probably eat first, though. Don’t want the food getting cold.” He held up a bag of delicious smelling Chinese takeout, prompting her to shift so he could get past her before she closed the door and went to retrieve some silverware from the kitchen.

As they ate Tim complained about the meetings he’d had to attend, venting about how they’d all wasted his time, which could’ve been better spent doing literally anything else. Tim was halfway through a sentence when he suddenly paused, and when Mari glanced at him in question he was staring at her arms, or more specifically, the bruises on her arms. _Uh oh_.

“Marie,” he started carefully, “what happened while I was gone that resulted in you being so bruised?”

“Oh, nothing! You know how clumsy I am!” The nervousness in her voice gave her away.

“Marie, please, the truth.” His tone became more concerned at her deflection, and she could see suppressed fury in his eyes. He definitely thought that someone had done this to her. Which was technically true because sentimonsters were made by a person and can be person-shaped.

“...” She hesitated before deciding what she would say. “I, I went for a walk after you left and ran into some people I know that don’t really like me anymore. We kinda got into a fight?” That was believable enough, if the way Tim’s expression darkened was any indication. “But I won! And I’m fine so there’s nothing to worry about!” As she waved her arms around to try and play it off she moved wrong, aggravating one of the larger bruises on her abdomen and wincing. With the way Tim went from furious to a mixture of furious and concerned she knew he had seen her flinch.

“Marie, you’re clearly in pain. You’re not fine. Now where do you keep your painkillers?”

She didn’t know why she had hoped he might let it go. Knowing that there was no way out of this mess she told him where the meds were, and he proceeded to make her take them before helping her upstairs, where she made him try on the clothes that she’d finished so far and pretend he was on a runway.

The hilarity of their makeshift fashion show lifted their spirits, and though Tim was still concerned he did make an effort not to hover, which she highly appreciated.

Tim loved the clothes, and his excitement over them being MAL originals was adorable. By the time he had to leave they were both feeling a lot better, though they were both upset that they couldn’t spend more time together.

Marinette had felt safe while he was over, and wished that he could’ve stayed so that she might be able to get some real sleep after the akuma of the day exhausted her. She had to settle on sleep via Insomnia Cure.

Her only consolation was that he seemed as reluctant to leave as she was to let him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is in the process of being written, so no sneak peaks unfortunately. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for Contingency 9c!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. You guys seemed to really like the Timinette interactions from last chapter. There will be some more sweetness here, don’t worry.
> 
> We also get to see Mari activate Contingency 9c!

There weren’t any more akumas for a few days after the lava one. Which was good, because it gave her time to recover. When she tried to look into _why_ there weren’t any akumas, she found that Gabriel was getting ready for some secretive business trip, and that he was due to leave in two and a half weeks, approximately.

He must be busy trying to get things together, which was extra good because it would give Plagg time for his investigation.

In two weeks it would be time to check in on her parents’ meeting with Nadja, which meant she was busy preparing for Contingency 9c. With a bit of magic and a carefully crafted program she would be able to erase herself from all digital records, which is what people relied on for everything. If there was no trace of her online anywhere people would question whether she’d actually existed, which would ensure that Nadja wouldn’t run the story of her disappearance. It would ruin her credibility.

She couldn’t erase herself from some things, like where she was credited for her work with Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale, so she would instead replace her name with MDC while removing pictures that included her. Her classmates, at least, wouldn’t investigate thoroughly enough to piece things together. As Alya had proven repeatedly with her “fact checking” of Lila’s stories.

Physical records were a whole different matter. There was no feasible way for her to get rid of them without causing a _lot_ of suspicion, so she would just have to leave them. People didn’t tend to rely on paper nowadays anyway.

She spent the two weeks leading up to the meeting making last minute tweaks to the program and checking over the magic. 

Of course, that’s not all she did during that time. Marinette was still periodically working on Tim’s commission, Tim himself coming over so often that she eventually just gave him a spare key and told him he could drop by whenever as long as he warned her beforehand.

He was over even more often after that. She didn’t mind, she enjoyed his company. He still seemed worried about how she’d been injured, which was sweet of him. She couldn’t exactly tell him that the reason she was injured was because she was fighting monsters in Paris and her partner was useless. Yet.

Spending so much time with Tim made the time pass by much quicker than it would’ve otherwise. 

Their deal was going well, and she’d only had to hit him with the Insomnia Cure three more times so far. He didn’t like that she would continue working while he passed out though. Tim started dragging her to her bed or the couch with him when he felt the effects of the Insomnia Cure kicking in, stating “We sleep together or not at all,” before trapping her in his arms to force her to rest.

It was surprisingly effective. And comfortable.

It led to them becoming more tactile with each other, giving each other hugs, cuddling up on the couch together, holding hands. It was nice. It had been a long time since she’d been touched without intent to harm.

She also got to drag Tim out with her a lot. They’d gone fabric shopping and he’d taken her to a few of the nicer, calmer places in Gotham so she could get some inspiration. He preferred that if she had to go out she brought him with her because of the excuse she gave him when he asked about the bruises. Going out with Tim was fun, though, and oftentimes it felt like they were on little dates, which was really enjoyable.

The only downside to going out with Tim was the chatter it would generate on social media. While nobody would take pictures of them for fear of Tim suing them, people still liked to talk about how they saw Tim Drake with the “Sunshine of Gotham,” which she kind of resented because of how they’d always referred to Adrien as the Sunshine Boy. They also started referring to Tim as the Moonlight Prince. _That_ she found funny.

Especially because they mainly did it so they could pair them together as the Sunshine Princess and Moonlight Prince.

Tim’s brothers hadn’t made the connection yet. Nobody would tag Tim when they talked about it, and the only posts that linked them together before the nicknames stuck mysteriously disappeared when she made an off-hand mention of how hilarious it would be to troll his family with it.

She loved him so much. She should probably be concerned over how much they love inciting chaos, but if she worried over it she wouldn’t get to cause any.

Priorities.

Overall, time seemed to fly by. The two weeks were up and it was time for her to crash that meeting. Invisibly, of course.

Marinette transformed as the fox and merged with the ladybug, the only thing about her costume that changed being the silvery color turning red and the ladybug yo-yo getting attached to her belt. When she was all set Kaalki opened the portal for her and hid inside her vest with a sugar cube once they were on the other side with the portal closed.

Wrapping Trixx’s illusion magic around herself she took off for the bakery, slipping in through the balcony and sneaking down into the living area where her parents were just greeting Nadja Chamak.

_Perfect. I’m right on time_ , she thought as she positioned herself on the stairs that led to her old room, watching as they settled on the couches to talk.

“Thank you so much for agreeing to run the story Nadja. With how long it’s been since Marinette vanished we fear she may have left the city, maybe even the country.” The concern in her mother’s voice didn’t phase her.

“Of course, Tom, Sabine. It’s the least I could do. Me and Manon like Marinette quite a lot, we were very worried over her sudden disappearance. If I can help make sure she’s found safe and sound I’m glad to help.” At least Mrs. Chamak genuinely missed her. And poor Manon, she hoped her new babysitter was nice to her.

“You said you needed some recent pictures of Marinette?” When Nadja nodded Tom stood and gestured toward the trapdoor. “We don’t have any recent ones printed out down here, but there should be some on Marinette’s computer. Shall we?”

Marinette preceded them upstairs and sat on her old chaise, watching as they crowded around her computer before pulling out her yo-yo and sliding it open, quickly navigating to where she could activate her Contingency.

She pressed activate as soon as they pulled up her old instagram on the computer and got a front row seat to their dumbfounded expressions as the account deleted itself. Everything they pulled up on her was gone: pictures, mentions, tags, messages, _everything_ disappeared before their very eyes.

Her parents faces were outraged as they looked for proof that she existed on the internet. There was none. Nadja had looked through public records for her and seemed extremely shocked when she couldn’t find _anything_ to prove she had ever existed.

It was glorious.

“What just happened?!” Sabine demanded of Nadja, who still appeared dumbstruck at the loss of everything pertaining to Marinette. “Why can’t we find anything about our daughter?”

Nadja took a steadying breath before replying. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but it seems that all information about Marinette that was accessible through technology has just been systematically deleted. All mention of her has been scrubbed from the internet. Even her public records are missing, which shouldn’t be possible. I’m sorry but I can’t risk running the story when the person we’re looking for functionally doesn’t even exist.”

“...” Tom and Sabine just stared at each other in shock as Nadja showed herself out.

Secure in the knowledge that her face wouldn’t be broadcasted over international television, Marinette left, going back to her apartment with an overwhelming grin on her face. 

There was nothing for her to worry about anymore. Nobody would ever guess that she’d run away to _Gotham_ of all places.

The only person she needed to watch out for was Adrien; his modeling gig could take him just about anywhere.

She’d worry about it later. For now she focused on completing the last piece of Tim’s new wardrobe. He was going to be ecstatic.  


Marinette hadn’t bothered to check in on her ex-class while she was in Paris so she had no idea what they were thinking, but a sudden shiver up her spine convinced her that it was nothing good.

She ignored it. They weren’t her problem anymore.

Until they were. She got an akuma alert right as she finished the last piece of Tim’s commission, and when she arrived on scene, it was Lady WiFi.

She was mad that some of the posts on her blog had disappeared when Marinette’s contingency plan was enacted. But lucky for Marinette, she knew exactly how to deal with an akumatized Alya.

The battle was over in fifteen minutes. Tops. At which point Alya immediately shoved her phone in her face, asking for an interview.

“Ladybug! Oh my gosh! Thanks for saving me! Can I get an interview?”

Her earrings beeped. “Sorry Ms. Césaire, I don’t have time for any interviews. Gotta go! Bug out!”

She swung back to the alley before Alya could protest. When she got there, her yo-yo beeped, and when she checked it there was a message from Plagg.

_Bug, you were right. Gabriel is Hawkmoth. I was flying through the walls of the house and I found a room filled with butterflies, with a giant suspiciously butterfly decorated window. He also has his wife down there in some kind of glass coffin. Adrien’s going with his dad on some business trip in a few hours so you’ll have to snag me when he gets back._

Perfect. Now she could get rid of Chat Noir.

Her transformation dropped and she headed home, texting Tim to tell him she had finished the last piece of his commission.

He was at her apartment five minutes later.

She smiled as she listened to Tim gush about his new wardrobe, thanking and praising her profusely. His excitement was adorable. All that work was worth it just to see him light up at the sight of his brand new MAL exclusive wardrobe.

When he finally calmed down he idly said, “we should date.”

This served to make her blush as she stuttered out an incoherent “what?” 

He looked amused at her flustered state, and clarified. “We should be, you know, a thing. We should date.”

“...were we not already?” She was only half joking when she asked this. With how much time they spent together they were practically married at this point.

He thinks about it. “You know what, you’re right. But that’s no surprise. We’ll just make it official then.”

“Wait,” she said as she looked up at him with mischief in her eyes, “we could totally troll your brothers even more if we don’t tell anyone about it.”

A mischievous smirk crawled its way across his face as he replied. “This is why I love you. You have the best ideas.”

She blushed. “I love you too.”

His expression softened as he leaned down to place a gentle, chaste kiss on her lips before pulling her into his arms.

“So what do you want to do for our first official date Sunshine Princess?”

“I don’t know _Moonlight Prince_ ,” she elbowed him in the ribs, “but as long as we do it together I’ll be happy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Next chapter is in the works!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things are revealed and Chat gets cursed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You get the povs of both Mari and Tim in this chapter!
> 
> A lot of you wanted Sunshine Noir to get cursed so I hope you enjoy it!

Nothing really changed once they made their relationship official. Tim spent so much time with her that he basically lived in her apartment, and they had already been going on dates, whether they were labeled as such or not.

A few nights after they became official, while Marinette was in the kitchen making a pot of her special coffee, there was a thud on her balcony. The balcony doors flew open to reveal Red Robin as he stumbled towards her, slouching against the counter.

“Oh coffee goddess please grant me some of your rejuvenating nectar so that I might continue to repel the fatigue that threatens me.” His entreaty, while dramatic, was so very Tim that she was both shocked and worried. If he was so sleep deprived that he would reveal himself to her like this then he definitely needed to sleep.

She would’ve know it was him anyways because magic but still, it was the principle of the matter.

“Oh Timmy, you sleep-deprived dumbass. Why are you out on patrol if you’re so tired that you just revealed yourself to me on accident?” She took his face in her hands and stroked his cheeks with her thumbs while she waited for an answer.

“To spite Dick. And it’s not like you’re going to tell anyone, we’re basically married, I trust you for a reason. Now please coffee dealer, brewer of the finest coffee I’ve ever tasted, may I have the nectar of the gods?” Even with the mask on his face she could make out his pleading expression.

 _Dammit. Why did he have to be so cute?_

“Fine,” she sighed as she drew away from him, moving to prepare a thermos for him; she could’ve sworn she heard him whine when her hands left his face. It only took her a minute to get the thermos ready, though she had a condition for doing this. “But once you’re done with your patrol you have to come back here so I can give you an Insomnia Cure. Okay?”

He smiled softly as he took the offered thermos. “Of course, Marie. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

And with that, he had disappeared back out her balcony doors.

She stared blankly at the balcony doors. _Of course he was already a hero. Why wouldn’t he be?_ The thought made her sigh in exasperation, but she couldn’t deny that this would make things easier when she told him about her being a heroine in Paris.

/———————————————————-\

Once he had procured coffee from the coffee goddess he turned his comm back on and swung back to where he’d ditched Dick, who was freaking out about how he’d disappeared as soon as he’d had his back turned.

Dick turned around as Tim landed on the rooftop behind him. “Where have you been!? I turn away for a _second_ and suddenly you’re nowhere to be seen!”

Tim shrugged as he drank out of the thermos Marie had provided him with. She was definitely the best goddess he’d ever met. And he’d met a few. “Well you guys cut me off and if I was going to survive patrol I needed coffee. So I went to visit my coffee dealer.”

“You shouldn’t even be on patrol! We cut you off so you would sleep!” He paused as the last part of what Tim said registered. “Did you say coffee dealer?”

Tim raised an eyebrow as he took another sip of that sweet sweet nectar. “Maybe.”

Dick threw his hands up in frustration, clutching at his hair as he looked at Tim in bewilderment. “What does coffee dealer even mean?!”

Tim continued to stare as he took another long sip. Marie really was the best. “It means I have a person that I can get coffee from.”

“Who?”

“Like I would tell you that. I don’t need you trying to convince my dealer to cut me off for you.”

“...You realize how bad that sounds, right?”

“Whatever. Let’s get this over with.”

Patrol was uneventful aside from Dick’s attempts at learning more about his coffee dealer. He had to ditch him when patrol ended so he could get back to Marie’s without Dick trying to follow.

When Tim returned to Marie’s apartment a few hours after he had stumbled out, this time he came in through the front door in civvies rather than through the balcony in costume. Marie had already prepared a cup of Insomnia Cure for him, and so when he arrived she dragged him to the counter to make him drink it.

He had drank half of it before he realized that she wasn’t having any and looked more dead than he did, which he would not stand for.

If he had to sleep, so did she.

“Why aren’t you having any?” His question was casual, meant to lower her guard.

“Oh, well-“ it had worked. As soon as she let her guard down to give him an excuse as to why she was making him sleep without sleeping herself, he took up a mouthful of Insomnia Cure. While she babbled out her excuse he quickly tilted her chin up, held the back of her head, and kissed her.

In her shock he was able to easily pry her lips open to transfer the Insomnia Cure into her mouth, where she reflexively swallowed it. Since they were already kissing he decided to take advantage of the situation and kiss her properly, tongue gently mapping out her mouth and coaxing hers into its’ own soft exploration. He didn’t draw back until she gently pressed her hands against his chest.

They were still intimately close, their arms wound around each other, breath softly puffing in each other’s space. The way she looked up at him, expression so soft and loving, even with the lingering shock, made his heart skip a beat.

Marie drew away to glare up at him playfully. “I can’t believe you just tricked me into having some Insomnia Cure!”

He grinned smugly. “We sleep together or not at all. Insomniacs, unite!”

She giggled. “Alright Red,” she teased, “let’s go get ready for bed.”

Well at least if she was teasing him about it she’d accepted the fact that he was a vigilante. That was good. They’d still have to talk about it later, when their minds were mostly functional. He wanted to make sure she was okay with it.

They did as Marie suggested, getting ready for bed together. Tim had yet to transfer his new wardrobe back to the manor, and he spent so much time at Marie’s that he practically lived there. He kept everything he needed at her place because of how often he was over.

Once they were both ready he dragged her over to the bed, coaxing her to lie down before climbing in after her. He pulled her into his arms, curling around her protectively as he buried his face in her hair, content to sleep as long as Marie was safe in his arms.

The next day he awoke with Marie still in his arms. Waking up with Marie still asleep in his arms was one of his favorite things. If he could wake up with her for the rest of his life, he’d be happy.

She stirred as he moved to get up, and blinked blearily up at him. “Do you have work today?” She yawned out quietly. She was so adorable when she was sleepy.

“Yeah. And a meeting with a potential business partner and their kid.” He wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Oh, who with?”

“Gabriel Agreste and his son Adrien.” At his words Marie froze for a split second, so quickly he could almost have imagined it, but with the way her voice shook slightly as she responded to him he knew he hadn’t.

“Oh. That’s sure to be interesting. I followed the Gabriel brand for quite some time when I was younger, though I don’t much care for it now.”

There was a story there, he was sure of it. She never really talked about her past, however, so he didn’t know how to ask about it.

He ended up just not asking.

“I get that. He’s pretty popular but I much prefer your work Ms. MAL.”

This drew a giggle out of her as she got out of bed, pushing him towards the bathroom as she declared that she was making breakfast, and he would be eating it.

He had no problems with this. Marie’s food could rival Alfred’s.

After they ate breakfast Marie made him some coffee to take with him in a thermos, along with a lunch so that she could be sure he ate. He didn’t have time to drop by for lunch today, which was disappointing. But he still got to eat Marie’s food so he couldn’t be too upset about it.

Work was normal and boring, the only highlight being when people complimented his suit, one of the ones Marie had made for him.

It was sleek and black with tiny details that caught the eye as he moved. It was nice and subtle. A classic business suit with a Marie twist.

He loved it.

By the time he had to attend the meeting he had investigated both the Agreste men he was meeting with and could only find one possible link between them and Marie, that MDC had won a design competition Gabriel had hosted when Marie would’ve been around 13 years old.

Other than that he found nothing. Which gave him more questions than answers.

“Mr. Drake, Gabriel Agreste and his son are here for your meeting.”

“Thank you, please send them in.”

The first thing he noticed when they entered the room was how cold and aloof Gabriel’s demeanor was. The second was that his son looked bored to death and the meeting hadn’t even started. Fantastic.

Tim stood to greet them, and once the pleasantries were out of the way and everyone was settled they got on with the meeting.

It was a fairly straightforward meeting. Gabriel was interested in doing business with Wayne Enterprises, looking to open a Gabriel branch in Gotham and possibly design for the Wayne family.

“I can’t speak for the rest of my family, but I already have a personal designer.”

This made the designer pause. Tim having a personal designer was not public knowledge. Not even his family knew yet. “Might I inquire as to who?”

“MAL.”

“I see. They do good work. Jagged Stone has named them his favorite designer, if I’m not mistaken.”

“You’re correct. The suit I’m wearing is actually an MAL original.”

“Impressive.”

Though he still seemed a bit miffed at having the chance to design for the co-CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Gabriel was perfectly polite for the remainder of the meeting. His son, however, was not.

When Adrien was included his remarks were uninterested and when asked simple business questions he would consistently give atrocious answers. He seemed very entitled.

Tim was glad when the meeting was finally over. He told Gabriel that he would discuss a potential deal with Bruce, but what he didn’t say was that he was thoroughly unimpressed and would not be doing business with them in the future.

He’d been invited to a fashion show they were featuring in, though. Maybe Marie would like to go.

 _Or maybe not_ , he thought as he remembered her split-second reaction to his mention of them that morning.

He resolved to ask about it later. Which turned out to be much later as he was suddenly attending a mandatory family dinner in addition to having to patrol that night. Just his luck.

He would much rather be with Marie. Who had been pretty disappointed that he couldn’t come over for dinner. And she had wanted to talk to him about something tonight too. Said it was important.

Speaking of Marie, she had just texted him. Looked like she had to make a last minute run to the fabric store for a project she was working on. Only problem was it was already dark out. And they were in Gotham.

He made a detour towards the shopping district where her favorite fabric store was located so he could watch out for her. He was a few minutes out from the store when he heard a commotion a few rooftops over. When he went to investigate, what he saw made his blood boil.

Marie was backed up against a wall on a rooftop with some guy in a catsuit a few feet in front of her. She was clutching her side, and upon closer inspection he noticed that her shirt was torn there, and she was bleeding.

When he looked at her face and saw the fear in her eyes as she pulled a golden baton from her bag and pushed the cat-boy away with it, he knew it was time to skin a cat.

Nobody hurt Marie and got away with it. Not as long as he was still breathing.

\——————————————————-—/

After Tim’s sleep-deprived reveal, Marinette knew that she needed to tell him about Paris. The only problem was that they both were really busy, and she’d prefer to do it after she’d taken care of the Chat situation. 

When Tim had mentioned who he was meeting she knew it was too late for that. She decided that she would tell him when he came over that night.

If she had known that Gabriel’s business trip would be to Gotham she would have been able to prepare better. But with no warning there was no way she could’ve planned ahead. Which is why she was running to her favorite fabric store. At night. In Gotham.

But she told Tim where she was going, and he was patrolling tonight, so it should’ve been fine. At least that’s what she thought until she was snatched off the sidewalk by the nuisance that was Chat Noir. He released her once they were on a rooftop, and she stumbled away from him.

“Princess! I found you!” He seemed excited by this, but all Marinette felt in the face of his smile was dread.

“What are you doing here Chat?” She asked warily, summoning a golden version of his baton in her bag just in case.

“I’m here on business, but when I saw you I knew I had to talk to you. You did disappear rather suddenly after all. Everyone’s been worried. Especially since you don’t seem to officially exist anymore.” His tone and gaze both grated on her, accusing. “But now that I’ve found you I can bring you home and everything can go back to normal. You can fix everything.”

 _Oh no_.

“I’m not going anywhere with you Chat.”

He laughed. “Oh princess, it’s cute that you think you have a choice. I’m just doing what’s best for both of us.” And with that, he lunged, claws tearing through her shirt and cutting into her side as he backed her into a wall. 

She pushed him back with her summoned baton, and while he struggled to regain his balance from the blow he was very suddenly and unexpectedly kicked in the face by a furious Red Robin.

“What,” Tim seethed, ”do you think you’re doing you fetishized furry?” He stood between her and Chat, stance protective and expression stone cold.

As Chat got back to his feet, clutching his already bruising cheek where Red had kicked him, he hissed. “It’s none of your business _bird boy_. This is between me and Marinette.”

“You made it my business when you assaulted Marie! Now. State your business.” Boy did Tim sure seem pissed. Made sense given his protective nature. If looks could kill Chat would be dead a hundred, no, a thousand times over.

“Not that it’s any of _your_ business, but _Marinette_ has been missing for quite some time. I’m only trying to get her home where she belongs. This has nothing to do with you, so step aside so I can take my Princess and leave.” 

Tim’s fury only grew. As Chat tried to step around Tim to grab her his wrist was grabbed and roughly twisted as he was kicked in he gut. Hard.

When he went down Marinette said quickly, “his ring! Grab his ring! Without it he’s useless!”

Tim did as she suggested, taking the ring off the disoriented Chat Noir, revealing Adrien. Mari stepped up next to Tim and gently took the ring from him. He let her, watching as she clutched it tightly while glaring down at Adrien.

When Adrien had sat up and was looking at them in a mixture of fury and shock, she finally spoke to him, standing tall despite the stinging pain from the cut in her side.

“Adrien Agreste, you have misused the power of the miraculous too many times. You have been a horrible partner for Ladybug, and you have been less than heroic in your civilian life. As the Guardian of the Miracle Box, I, Marie Lenoir, hereby curse you. You shall never again be able to wield a miraculous without express permission from the Guardian. You shall be unable to mention your time as Chat Noir to anyone. You will not be permitted to be akumatized in an attempt to reclaim the miraculous of the black cat. Anything and everything you know about the miraculous you will be unable to speak of, in any form. You will be unable to remember the identity of the Guardian. Any attempts to retrieve a miraculous will result only in further punishment. So it has been said, so mote it be.”

As she had been speaking the symbol of the miraculous had carved itself into the skin over Adrien’s heart, glowing an angry red as the curse took hold. It would be visible only to them, though others would be able to see it if he tried to go against the curse. Though Adrien had stared in shock and begged her to stop, writhing in pain, she had not.

This was long overdue.

Throughout the whole curse Tim had stayed by her side quietly, though he did look at her a bit warily when Adrien reacted in pain. When Adrien passed out as she finished speaking Tim finally spoke.

“What. The fuck.”

She sighed. “I planned on explaining it to you tonight. I never imagined even Chat would be stupid enough to do something like this. Once we drop him off we can go home and I’ll explain everything.”

“Screw the cat-boy, he hurt you!”

“I know he did, but he isn’t going to remember a lot of this and we can’t just leave him on a rooftop. We can just dump him at his hotel or something. Then you can help bandage me up.”

“...Fine.”

They dumped Adrien off at his hotel before Tim rushed her home. His patrol was officially over, so none of the bats would be coming after him. He gently cleaned and bandaged her cuts, though he still seethed over how she was injured the _one_ night he hadn’t gone out with her.

She was finally going to tell him about the situation in Paris. Tell him about the miraculous and how he was meant to be her true partner.

Marinette just hoped that Tim wouldn’t be too mad about her keeping this from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!
> 
> I realized that some things that make sense to me as the writer may not make sense to you as the readers, so if there’s anything that confuses you feel free to ask. I read all your comments and do my best to reply, so if you have questions about the fic I’ll be happy to answer.
> 
> Next chapter is in the works. Sorry about the mild cliffhanger.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The explanation.

Once Tim finished bandaging Mari’s Chat-induced cuts she knew it was time for a proper explanation, so she shifted on the couch and patted the spot next to her in silent invitation. He sat next to her, facing her as he waited to hear what she had to say, gripping one of her hands in his to comfort her as she thought about where to start.

“...When I was thirteen a super villain appeared in Paris, where I was born and lived at the time. I was chosen to be one of the people that fought against him by the Guardian at the time. Adrien was chosen to be my partner, though I didn’t know it was him until I became the Guardian. I wield the ladybug miraculous, though I have the potential to wield any of them, while Adrien wielded the black cat miraculous.”

“You mean cat-boy was a hero? That’s hard to believe.” His skepticism was understandable considering his first impression of Chat Noir.

“I know,” she sighed,” he wasn’t the best partner, but I’ll get into that later.”

She proceeded to explain the miraculous to him, introducing him to Tikki as she talked about the Hawkmoth situation. He took it pretty well, all things considered. It helped that he was a vigilante and seen some weird shit.

“I didn’t want to be a hero at first. I was convinced I would do terribly. I screwed up in the first battle and almost gave the miraculous away, but the person I wanted to give it to was in danger, so I had to accept the fact that I was chosen. We had no training. I didn’t even officially meet the Guardian until a good while after I had been given the miraculous. I eventually found out that I could train with past wielders in my sleep by using a little magic to connect to the miraculous, but Adrien never even _tried_ to get further training.” She rolled her eyes as Tim tightened his grip on her hand.

“He was a decent partner, in the beginning. But he got it in his head that since he loved me as Ladybug and our miraculous were complementary, not meant to be active without the other, we were meant to be. He was convinced we were soulmates. He started to harass me constantly, and threaten not to help me in battles if I didn’t confess my feelings for him. No matter how many times I told him I wasn’t in love with him, he wouldn’t drop it. He eventually just didn’t bother showing up to some of the akumas.”

“That useless, entitled cat-boy was supposed to be your _partner_? And he harassed you?” She could practically _feel_ Tim’s anger as he seethed. “I should’ve skinned him like I wanted to. How did you put up with him?”

“I didn’t have a choice. I was planning on forcibly retiring him as soon as I got confirmation from his Kwami that his father was Hawkmoth, but I didn’t know when that’d be. The problem was that I would have to find someone to replace him, and I had no idea who I could trust enough to make them my partner. And then I met you.”

“While I’m flattered that you would trust me enough to think of me for a replacement partner, what do I have to do with this?” She could see the confusion written all over his face.

“As soon as I met you I knew that you would be a perfect wielder for the miraculous of the black cat. I could see it in your soul. You’re a true wielder, like I am. You’re my true cat. We’re meant to be partners in using the miraculous. Adrien was always just a stand in.”

“So you want me to help you stop Hawkmoth? Wait a minute, you said Adrien’s father is Hawkmoth. His father as in Gabriel Agreste, the guy I had a meeting with today.” When she nodded he groaned. “I’m definitely not going to partner with him now. I wasn’t planning on it anyway, but his being a villain definitely puts that deal on ice.”

“I would love it if you would be my partner in crime-fighting. If you want to, that is.” She looked down shyly, only to have Tim gently tilt her head back up to face him.

“Marie, I would never make you fight alone. I’m upset that you felt like you had to. Nobody should be forced to take on a responsibility that big, especially when you were so young.” He pulled her into his lap as he wrapped his arms around her. “I love you too much to let you face something like this alone.”

Mari wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in her neck, whispering out a quiet “thank you” as Tim tightened his embrace.

She pulled away slightly. “There is one more thing you should know. I moved here because I was having major problems with the people around me, and because I didn’t want them to find me I created a new identity for myself. I recently completely deleted the old one.”

He seemed mildly shocked, before he seemed to decide on something. “Who you were in the past doesn’t matter to me. What matters is who you are now. If you felt unsafe enough to move to Gotham of all places and then annihilate your old identity then I don’t need to know why unless you’re comfortable telling me. I might end up tempted to burn down Paris.” They shared a laugh. “But seriously. I love you for _you_ Marie. It doesn’t matter if Marie isn’t the name you were born with. It’s the name you chose, and that means more to me than what a bunch of people that couldn’t appreciate what was right in front of them called you.” 

“I love you so much,” Marie, whispered out before claiming Tim’s lips in a loving kiss.

He held her tighter as they kissed, running his hands soothingly along her back. They only drew away when they needed air. When she pulled back Mari winced as the skin around her cuts was stretched, Tim immediately catching it and getting up to retrieve painkillers for her.

When she had taken them he took her into his arms and carried her upstairs, gently setting her on the edge of the bed before retrieving one of his shirts for her to wear and a pair of her pajama shorts, helping her ease the torn shirt off before going to change into his own pajamas. She finished changing while he was in the bathroom, and when he came back he helped her into the bathroom so they could finish getting ready. They settled into bed together and once she was secure in Tim’s arms once more, his heartbeat steady against her back, she fell asleep.

When she awoke the next day with Tim stroking her hair she was content. It was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders when she had told Tim about everything the previous day. She felt lighter than she had in years.

She turned over to look up at him, letting out a sleepy “good morning” as she leaned up to give him a quick kiss.

“Good morning Marie, how are you feeling? Do the cuts still hurt?” His concern for her was so sweet.

She slowly sat up, Tim helping her, and gently prodded her bandaged side, only wincing a little bit. “It still smarts a bit, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. Do you have work today?”

“Considering it’s Saturday, no. The only thing I might have to deal with is family.”

“Do you want to go with me to visit my uncle then? I finished a commission for him recently but he wanted to get it in person. We were supposed to meet up at his place today.” While she spoke she had made her way off the bed and towards the walk-in closet.

“And by uncle do you mean Jagged Stone?” The excitement in his voice was adorable.

“Yep! That’s the one!”

“Hell yeah I’ll visit your uncle with you! Not like I’d let you out of my sight considering what happened last night.”

“Careful, Red. Your protectiveness is showing,” she teased as she picked out a simple black dress with scattered holographic music notes on it.

“I’m allowed to be protective. You’re injured, and while I’m sure you could protect yourself, you shouldn’t have to.” He had a point there. Fighting while injured is not fun. 0/10 would not recommend.

They got ready for the day quickly, eating some croissants she had made the day before for breakfast and drinking some normal strength coffee before heading off to visit Jagged and drop off his latest commission.

When they arrived at Jagged and Penny’s house, which was more of a small mansion, they were greeted by the rockstar himself along with his crocodile Fang.

“Mari! My favorite niece! Come in, come in! I see you brought a friend, that’s nice!” He pulled her into a hug, Marie very carefully controlling her reactions so she wouldn’t flinch if he happened to press on her wounds.

“Hi Uncle Jagged! It’s so nice to see you again!” She drew away and pulled Tim to stand next to her before introducing him. “This is my boyfriend Tim.”

“Hello Mr. Stone, it’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m a big fan and Marie has only good things to say about you.” She could tell he was nervous as Jagged shook his hand and examined him.

“Your last name wouldn’t happen to be Drake, would it? You’ve got the Wayne features if I’ve ever seen ‘em.”

“Ah, yes, that’s correct.”

Jagged continued to stare for a while to make Tim uncomfortable, before finally clapping his hand and saying, “You snagged yourself a good one there Mari, none of Bruce’s kids could be any less than a gentleman. Now let’s go see Penny and unwrap whatever amazing thing you’ve come up with for me this time!”

And with that Jagged was off down the hall, Fang following at his heels while Tim and Marinette stared after him before scrambling to catch up.

Spending time with Jagged and Penny was nice. She had warned them ahead of time about Contingency 9c, so there weren’t any question on that. They did have lots and lots of questions about her and Tim’s relationship though. Which was kind of embarrassing.

On the bright side they agreed not to tell anyone about them so that they could properly troll everyone.

When they left after lunch they went back to her apartment and just enjoyed being with each other. They had discussed going to the fashion show that Gabriel had invited Tim to, but decided against it because Tim wasn’t sure whether he could keep himself from going after Adrien. That and while Adrien wouldn’t remember _she_ was the Guardian who’d cursed him, he _would_ remember that he’d seen her. She could only hope that he wouldn’t tell anyone about it.

They ended up playing some video games together and talking, swapping stories from their alter-egos and overall just having a good time.

Tim had gotten a few messages from his family about how they would need his help with a case over the week, so they wouldn’t be able to spend as much time together as they had been, but the opportunity to begin trolling them more than made up for it.

Tim had promised her video, after all.

/——————————————————-—\

The first troll started out simple; Tim began wearing exclusively MAL originals, and waited to see how long it would take for his brothers to notice. Dick had complimented his clothes a few times, and said the style looked familiar, but as of yet had not recognized the designer.

It was going to be hilarious when he finally found out.

Nobody had noticed anything that week he had to spend working a case. They hadn’t even seemed to notice that he wasn’t spending much of his time in the manor.

What they had noticed was that he suddenly seemed well rested and genuinely happy.

He took great pleasure in watching them freak out over it. Especially because Dick was still trying to find out about his coffee dealer, and thought they had something to do with it. Which was technically true. He and Marie could actually sleep when they slept together, so she was responsible for his sudden well-rested state of being. She was also the reason he was so happy, but why would he tell them about her when he could troll them instead and tape it for him to watch with his beloved Marie later?

Exactly. He wouldn’t.

He smiled to himself as he thought of how happy Marie would be to see the results of their trolling, which prompted Dick and Jason to look at him like he was about to murder them.

“Jay, do you see what I see? Am I hallucinating?” The mild panic in Dick’s voice was music to his ears.

“Not unless we’re both hallucinating. I see it too.” Jason seemed more perplexed than panicked.

“But that would mean that Timmy is, is _smiling_ and looks like he actually _slept_!” He fought to keep his laughter in as the panic in Dick’s voice escalated.

“I can’t believe it either.” Jason seemed like he was ready to believe they were sharing a hallucination.

“Wait, maybe it’s because of that coffee dealer he claims to have. Is the coffee drugged? Is Tim doing drugs?!” Listening to Dick freak out like this was making it really hard to keep a straight face.

“Let’s just ignore it Dicky bird, maybe It’ll go away.” And with that, Dick and Jason retreated, hoping against all hope that it was just a one off.

Boy were they going to freak when it became a regular occurrence. Which they did. And it was spectacular. The third day Dick had taken one look at him, let out a high pitched scream and ran out of the room yelling about body snatchers. Jason wasn’t much better. Only he called him the devil and made a more dignified, if still hasty, retreat.

Bruce and Damian hadn’t noticed at all.

Marie loved all the videos he got when he showed them to her after he was done with the case. She found it hilarious that the infamous batfam was scared of a happy Tim. They were in total agreement there.

Of course after they were done laughing over Dick’s undignified scream Marie would get a notification for an akuma. Gabriel was a dick like that.

But at least now he’d get the chance to see Marie in action. And see one of these akumas in person.

He just hoped his costume wasn’t as awful as Adrien’s was; he was not about to go around in a leather catsuit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter fought me a bit.
> 
> Next chapter is in the works, hopefully it doesn’t give me as much trouble as this one did.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fam finally realize Tim is now a client of MAL. Tim gets to help deal with an akuma, and some stuff goes down with Hawkmoth.

Marinette knew that Plagg could be a handful, so she kept him with her or asked that he merge with his miraculous when Tim had to deal with his family. They weren’t called the worlds’ greatest detectives for nothing, after all.

Though considering _none_ of them had figured out that Tim’s new clothes were courtesy of MAL, maybe they weren’t as observant as they were made out to be. Or maybe they just didn’t pay attention to family that much. Tim had barely been in the manor since he started hanging around her apartment a month ago and nobody had said anything to him about it.

They had noticed his change in demeanor, however. The videos Tim showed her of how they freaked out made her laugh harder than she had since before Lila transferred to her school their first year of lycée. It was fantastic. This is the whole reason she loved trolling people and causing chaos.

The over the top reactions.

Of course Hawkmoth just had to cut their mirthful laughter short. He was nice like that. On the bright side she’d actually have a good partner this time. Unlike Chat Noir, Tim would actually help her and had training for these sorts of things.

They transformed and got their first look at Tim’s new costume. It was basically a pure black version of his Red Robin suit, only there was no cape and he only had one silver utility belt around his waist, a pure black version of the cat’s baton securely attached. There was a hood attached at the shoulders with cat ears, but he didn’t have a tail. The mask was still a typical black domino, and he gained the cat eyes that came with the miraculous, though his eyes were an electric shade of silvery blue rather than the toxic green of Chat Noir.

Overall, not bad. He seemed okay with it at least. She knew that he had been worried he would be stuck in some horrendous leather catsuit like Adrien had worn, so the familiarity of it being like he was used to with some tweaks was probably a relief. Though he seemed a bit miffed at the cat ears, which were non-negotiable.

“You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be. Let’s get this over with. I still have more footage to show you.”

She perked up at that, stepping through the portal Kaalki provided and dragging Tim with her, passing in the alley when she remembered something. “What do you want to be called?”

He thought about it for a bit. “I don’t know, Chat Nuit? If you haven’t noticed, there aren’t many cat-themed people in Gotham. We tend to specialize in birds and bats.” This was true.

“Chat Nuit should be fine. You won’t have to wield the cat miraculous for too long, so it doesn’t matter too much.” There was suddenly a loud crash followed by a lot of screaming. “Right, akuma. Let’s go.” And with that she was off, swinging towards the battle with the newly dubbed Chat Nuit right behind her.

The akuma was baby August. Again. She knew how to handle him, and with Tim following her lead and helping out the battle was over in no time. They left as soon as August was safe with his mother, heading back to the alley to detransform.

“Okay, that was super weird. Why would he akumatize a baby?” His confusion was understandable. Once he learned that Hawkmoth had no real criteria when picking victims the akumas wouldn’t phase him.

“He isn’t exactly clever, Tim. Plus he’s not a good fit for the miraculous he’s using, and he’s desperate enough that he takes just about any negative emotion he can get.”

Tim considered this. “Okay. So, what do we need to do to nail him for this Hawkmoth thing? You said we needed proof, right?”

“Well we can’t just barge into his house and tell the police that we knew it was him because I had a Kwami investigate. Unless you don’t want to involve the police. I’m going to curse him anyways, we could just make him turn himself in.” That sounded pretty good to her. She was still wary of the police after all the times they’ve refused to listened to her. And because they had been used against her by quite a few akumas.

“That could work. How good is your relationship with the police?”

“Iffy at best.” She had tried to improve their relations but they hadn’t been interested in working with her. “Honestly, at this point they pretty much just see Hawkmoth as a me problem.”

“That sounds awful.” He gazed at her in concern as she shrugged.

“You get used to it. So, curse?”

He sighed. “That’s looking like our best option. We should still be able to provide evidence to the police though. He must’ve left a trail when he was setting up his lair, I’ll look into it and try to pin him with something the police will agree was suspicious.”

“Works for me. Ready to go home?”

“You know it. I still have more videos to show you.” She visibly brightened at this, causing Tim to chuckle as she quickly dragged him through the portal and into their apartment.

The videos were absolutely hilarious. Her favorite was the one where Dick screamed before running out of the room at top speed. If this was their reaction to a Tim that actually slept from time to time she couldn’t wait to see how they react to him having MAL originals when they finally notice.

/———————————-————————\

They finally noticed a month after Tim had begun wearing clothes exclusively made by Marie. It was glorious.

Dick was the first to notice, as he had suspected would be the case, and he had noticed while they were chilling in the living room of the manor with Jason, Damian, and Bruce.

“Oh my god!” They all looked to Dick sharply, who was pointing at Tim as he practically vibrated in his excitement. “Tim! Is that an MAL original!?” At this, all eyes turned to Tim, who took a casual sip of coffee before responding.

“Maybe.”

”How did you get an MAL original? I thought they weren’t taking new clients?” This came from Jason, as Dick was too excited to speak.

“You think I only have one?” Tim rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you guys didn’t notice. Everything I’ve been wearing for the past month has been an MAL original.”

Dick’s jaw dropped, Jason stared at Tim intently, Damian huffed, and Bruce just looked between all his boys in exasperation. It took Dick another minute to recover.

“Wha-what do you mean _everything_ you’ve worn has been an MAL original!? When did you even commission them!?” Tim had to stop himself from smirking at Dick’s indignant questions.

“A while ago. I got a whole new wardrobe. I can’t believe you didn’t notice, you’re almost as big a fan as I am.”

“And how did you manage to become one of their clients?” And here was Jason asking the real questions.

“Oh, you know...luck. I was randomly selected from their list of interested potential clients.” Like he would tell them he had met MAL in the flesh.

Dick looked at him in envy. “You lucky son of a bitch. _I_ want an MAL original!”

“Sorry. They aren’t taking anymore new clients.” At Dick’s mournful wail Tim let himself smirk.

As Jason went to open his mouth he was cut off by Alfred coming into the room, declaring that it was time for dinner. Tim wasn’t staying for dinner. And Dick knew this. As soon as Alfred was out of the room Tim smirked widely at Dick, who looked ready to lunge at him, and booked it out the front door.

Marie was going to _love_ this. He couldn’t wait to show her. They were going to have dinner in their apartment before heading out to confront Hawkmoth. When Tim had gone digging for suspicious activity before Hawkmoth’s debut he’d found a few things that would be suitable cause for suspicion when they turned him over to the police. Marie was still going to curse him though. And some of the Kwami had been thinking about cursing him for the way he’d misused the miraculous.

That ought to be interesting, if they decide to do it.

Marie had dinner ready when he arrived, and as soon as he saw her he swept her up into a hug, planting a kiss on her cheek before saying “It happened. Dick finally noticed.”

She gasped as she looked up at him in excitement. “ _Please_ tell me you got it on video. Was it amazing? I bet it was amazing!”

He chuckled as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Don’t worry, I got it on video, as promised.”

She lit up. “Let’s watch it after we eat. I could use a good laugh before we go kick some ass.”

After they ate and watched the video, grinning with delight, they portalled to Paris, where it was around one in the morning. Gabriel was obviously awake, however, as an akuma was flying around the city. Not that they would’ve cared if he _was_ sleeping. Between the two of them the akuma was easily dealt with, and they quickly made their way to the Agreste mansion, breaking through the butterfly window and into his lair, where he was still transformed and cursing Ladybug.

 _Does he do this every time he loses? It seems like a routine at this point,_ Tim thought as he and Marie landed in front of Hawkmoth.

“Give it up Gabriel! Surrender your miraculous and you might get off lightly!” Though Hawkmoth seemed shocked at both their sudden appearance and Marie’s words, he wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

A sword was drawn from the butterfly’s staff, and proceeded to be thrust at them as they began to battle. It was over pretty quickly. Desperation can’t make up for a lack of training, and since both Tim and Marie were trained, Gabriel didn’t stand a chance. The sword was knocked away by Tim’s baton as Marie used her yo-yo to tie him up, approaching him and retrieving the butterfly miraculous.

Gabriel glared up at them as they stood over him, Marie preparing to cast her curse.

“Gabriel Agreste, you have abused the power of the butterfly miraculous and its Kwami. You used the miraculous to terrorize Paris for years, all to suit your own purposes. Millions of people have died due to your actions, many of them multiple times. Paris has become emotionally unstable because of your actions, and for these reasons, you will be punished. As the Guardian of the miraculous, I, Ladybug, hereby curse you. No miraculous or Kwami will ever answer to you. You will be unable to speak of anything you learned about the miraculous. Any attempts to go against the curse shall result in further punishment. Your magic will be bound, and will remain so for the rest of your life. So it has been said, so mote it be.”

With her final words the symbol of the miraculous carved itself into his chest, the same as it had with Adrien, and with the same rules. He and Marie stared dispassionately as Gabriel groaned at the pain. When the symbol was complete, Marie glanced at him and he said his piece.

“Now that the official miraculous business is out of the way, we’ll be taking you to the police and your wife to the hospital after we retrieve the peacock miraculous and the book from your safe. Ladybug will be healing your wife, so your son will still have one parent to look after him.”

After they handed Gabriel off to the police they brought Emilie Agreste to the hospital, where Marie used her magic to heal her. Tim caught her when she swayed; healing took a lot out of her.

With that finished they headed home, Tim carrying Marie to bed before curling around her. The day had been exhausting, but the payoff was worth it. He glanced down at Marie, sleeping soundly in his arms, and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Now all they needed to do was take care of the people that hurt her badly enough for her to erase her old life from existence. As he’d said before, nobody hurt Marie and got away with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn’t think of a good cat costume for Tim, hence the altered Red Robin suit. Not the best but he doesn’t have to wield the cat for long.
> 
> Next chapter is in the works.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The batfam find out Tim has a girlfriend.

After Hawkmoth’s defeat Marinette had a lot more free time on her hands, and she didn’t really know what to do with it at first. She ended up taking more commissions and spending more time with Tim, which she hadn’t thought possible. Running around as Ladybug had been an outlet for her, a way to let off a little steam. Now that she didn’t have a reason to be ladybug she needed a new outlet.

She and Tim talked about it and decided that she should join him for his patrols as Teumessian, using the fox miraculous so she could galavant over the rooftops with him without being seen. It was also another way for them to troll the rest of the batfam, who didn’t know about her yet. Though Tim did say that their butler Alfred probably knew something. Apparently he was basically omniscient. He probably had to be to keep up with all the drama the bats seemed to generate.

In addition to patrolling with him, she had also started meeting up with Tim at Wayne Enterprises for lunch and to bring him things like coffee and pastries when he had meetings that he expected to be _particularly_ dreadful. This sparked excited chatter amongst the employees, who had been dying to see the Sunshine Princess to their boss’s Moonlight Prince ever since they had first trended on Twitter. It also served to confuse the other Wayne boys that dropped by from time to time.

Occasionally one of them would drop by to check in Tim just after Mari had left, and find him in his office with a soft smile on his face and a box of delicious-looking pastries on his desk. Which he reluctantly shared, refusing to tell them where he’d received the pastries. They were starting to get suspicious.

None of them said anything about it until Damian was on winter break from school. Mari had moved to Gotham in October and started officially dating Tim in November. They had been trolling the rest of his family since the night they had made their relationship official. Damian’s winter break started a few weeks into December, which is when he finally noticed that Tim spent almost no time in the manor despite living there.

He asked about it one night when they were having dinner as a family.

“Drake. You spend practically no time here at the manor, not even at night, which is odd for someone who _lives_ here. What is your explanation?” Though it was phrased as a question, His tone made it seem to be a demand. It also sparked realization in the other members of the family.

“Why, you worried about me Demon Spawn?” Tim couldn’t help but take the opportunity to tease.

Damian scowled at him, gripping his knife pointedly and preparing to lunge before he was held back by Dick, who picked up his previous line of questioning. “He’s right Timmy, now that I think about it I haven’t seen you around here an awful lot, and normally you spend _all_ your free time here. I think I’ve spent more time here than you. And I live in Bludhaven. What’s going on? Where do you disappear to?” The genuine concern in Dick’s voice made him feel a little bad.

But then he remembered that he’d been spending almost no time there for close to two months. And they were only just now noticing. “I have an apartment.” His answer was deadpan and straightforward. “Besides you guys are only just now noticing when I’ve been spending very little time here for almost two months.” His answer caused most of them to look a little sheepish. Except Damian, Damian was still scowling.

“Then why have you been so happy?” Jason was suspicious, it seemed.

“And well-rested, for that matter.” Dick added.

“If I may,” Alfred spoke up, knowing that if it wasn’t explicitly stated the boys probably wouldn’t get it. At least not for a long while. “It seems to me that young Master Tim is in a relationship.” 

Dick was the first one to snap out of his shock. “...What? Are you for real- wait.” He looked over at Tim who was glaring at Alfred in shock. “He isn’t denying it! Timmy’s really in a relationship? And he didn’t _tell_ us!?”

“What? No way! Timbers is too much of a shut-in to get a girlfriend! Even if he met a girl he’d probably think she was a hallucination!” Thanks a lot Jason. Tim couldn’t even deny it because for a second he _had_ thought Marie was a hallucination.

“I take offense to that. I do go out you know.” Tim glared at Jason, who put his hands up in mock defense.

“Can you blame us? You’re usually too dead to leave the house without someone with you to make sure you don’t keel over.” Tim couldn’t deny _that_ point either. Why did Jason have to call him out like that?

“I haven’t been _that_ sleep-deprived in a while, I’ll have you know. Not that you noticed.”

“Boys, enough. Tim,” here Bruce gazed at Tim, a serious expression on his face. “Are you seeing someone?” There was no way out of this. _Damn you Alfred! This is all your fault!_

“...Yes. We’ve been together officially for just over a month.” His confirmation opened the flood gates, Dick hurling questions at him and Jason lamenting over how they hadn’t noticed. Damian remained silent, scowl ever present on his face.

“Dick, Jason, enough. Why didn’t you say anything sooner, Tim? When do we get to meet them?”

“I wanted to see how long it would take you to notice. As for when you get to meet her, I’ll have to discuss it with her first. I’ll get back to you on that.” With that, Tim made his retreat, heading home to talk to Marie, as it wasn’t his night to patrol.

When he got home he made his way to the loft where Marie was working on a commission. She was absorbed in her work, so he decided to announce his presence.

“Honey, I’m home~.” She startled a bit before she turned around and glared at him playfully.

“Welcome home, _dear_. How was your visit to the family estate?” He loved that she would indulge in his theatrics like this. She was amazing.

He approached her and wrapped her in his arms, placing a kiss on her lips before answering. “Oh, you know. Loud, for one. Damian’s home for winter break, seemed like he missed me.” With the way her eyes glinted in understanding, she’d caught his meaning.

“Oh, that’s sweet. How about the others? Did they miss you as well?” God he loved this woman.

“Once our littlest bird mentioned it they did. And dear old Alfred was kind enough to inform them that I’ve been visiting someone when I disappear, dearest; they want to meet you now, isn’t that exciting?” There was only a hint of sarcasm in his tone, and for that he was proud of himself.

She made a show of being shocked, drawing away and placing a hand over her heart as she gasped. “They want to meet me? Aww, that’s so sweet. When did you have in mind?”

“That’s up to you, my dearest.” She wrinkled her nose a bit as she thought about it.

“Well, I’ve got a few commissions I need to prioritize, but they should be done by next week. I think next Friday would be fine, we should both be free.”

“You’re correct, as always. I’ll let them know next time I see them. You almost done for the night?”

“Yeah, I was just finishing up when you came in, why?”

“Want to watch a movie?”

“Sure, why not. Which movie?”

“Well, I recently got my hands on a copy of the Ladybug movie they made a few years back, you heard of it?” His teasing made her whine a bit as she gave him a light shove.

“Tim! You know I attended the premier, how did you even get your hands on a copy? They were supposed to be restricted to France. Nobody was ever allowed to leave the country with a copy.” Her pout was adorable.

“I know, but they can’t stop me if I don’t leave the country through legal means!” His grin was smug as she glared up at him.

“Kaalki! I can’t believe you helped him get that! And Tikki why didn’t you tell me?” The two mentioned Kwami flew up to hover in front of her face.

“I’m sorry Mari, I thought it would be a fun surprise!” Tikki cuddled up to her face, and Marie patted her to let her know she wasn’t mad.

“Why wouldn’t I help him? You’re famous, Guardian, it deserves to be acknowledged!” Marie sighed in exasperation as she looked at the Kwami.

“I should’ve expected that. Fine. We’ll watch the movie. But it’s completely inaccurate, I’ll have you know!” He just grinned at her as they went downstairs to watch the movie, cuddling up on the couch together with some popcorn. Which Marie proceeded to throw at the screen when there was anything she _particularly_ didn’t agree with.

All in all it wasn’t a bad movie. He found Marie’s reactions to it hilarious, though, so he paid more attention to her than the movie. Her distaste for it was greatly amusing.

\——————————-—————————/

Now that Tim’s family was aware that he was in a relationship they had been trying to find out just _where_ this mysterious girlfriend lived by attempting to follow Tim back to her place. He had given them the run around each time, making sure to tell her about it later. She didn’t know why they were getting so impatient, there were only a few days left before they met her officially.

The way Tim reacted to the situation, them getting impatient was a common occurrence. They had also put two and two together and realized that she was probably the one that had been visiting him in his office and bringing him those tasty pastries he begrudgingly shared with them. Which prompted them to try and subtly interrogate the staff that had to have seen her. Problem was, they didn’t want to upset their boss and his lovely lady, so they wouldn’t answer any questions in a straightforward manner.

It was driving the bat boys crazy. An addition to their troll that they didn’t even have a hand in. Tim had some damn good employees. Even when bribed they would reveal nothing, citing an NDA that the boys couldn’t dispute because they didn’t technically work there. What happens at Wayne Enterprises stays at Wayne Enterprises, apparently.

The employees would even warn her when one of the boys was lurking so she could avoid them. They had a good laugh over that one.

But time passed and eventually it was the agreed upon day. The day she would officially meet the Wayne family. Her glimpses of them in costume didn’t count, as she’d only ever helped Tim troll them, never revealing herself and never allowing them to hear her when she spoke.

Dinner with the Waynes. This ought to be an interesting night. She was looking forward to it.

She had already made some batfam themed macaroons to give them and she and Tim were looking forward to their reactions. That and she was curious how they would act around her, since they were all so shocked that Tim had managed to get a girlfriend in the first place.

This was going to be good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be Mari meeting the batfam, which should be fun.
> 
> Hope you liked the chapter!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mari meets the bat boys.

When Tim was finished with work he came back to their apartment to change, Mari making sure that she wasn’t wearing an MAL original so that they could troll the family with the reveal later on. It was a casual dinner, so she wore some black jeans and a red blouse with a simple black jacket and red high-top converse. Tim wore some jeans, a t-shirt, and a Red Robin themed hoodie Mari had made for him after his reveal.

When they arrived at the manor she was amazed at the architecture, and resolved to make Tim bring her back at a later date so she could sketch to her heart’s content. The door opened before either of them could reach for it, a demonstration of Alfred’s omniscience.

“Hey Alfred. This is my girlfriend Marie.” Tim gestured at her, prompting her to hold her hand out for Alfred to shake, which he did.

“It’s nice to meet you Mr. Pennyworth, I’m Marie Lenoir! Tim’s told me so much about you!”

“A pleasure Ms. Lenoir, please call me Alfred. The rest of the family is waiting in the living room. They’re quite excited to meet you.” He gestured for them to come inside, closing the door behind them. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I must check on dinner.”

“Oh! I brought macaroons for all of you, is there any place I can put them?”

He paused, glancing at the box in her hands. “I will store them in the kitchen for you. We can have them after dinner, if that’s all right.”

“Of course! Thank you Alfred!” She handed him the box of macaroons and he took off, presumably towards the kitchen. The manor was huge. She would definitely get lost if she wasn’t careful.

“Alright, ready to face the inquisition? Well, half of it. The girls are off on vacation somewhere and won’t be back until January, so you won’t meet them until later.” There was resignation both on his face and in his voice.

She sighed, gently caressing his cheek as she stood on tiptoe to peck him on the lips. He wrapped his arm around her waist as she pulled away, proclaiming “as I’ll ever be.” They made their way toward the living room, and when they entered all noise instantly ceased.

Tim just sighed. “Guys, this is my girlfriend Marie. Marie, this is my family. You already know who’s who.” Bruce was the first one to stand and introduce himself, followed closely by Dick and Jason. Damian remained seated, arms crossed with a slight glare on his face as Dick took it upon himself to introduce Damian.

When the pleasantries were out of the way and everyone was seated once again, Bruce in an armchair, Dick and Jason on one couch, Damian on another couch, and Tim and Mari on _another_ couch, the questions started rolling in.

Jason got the ball rolling. “So how did you meet? Tim almost never left the manor if he wasn’t going to work.”

Tim flipped him off. “I left the manor plenty. I had to if I wanted to get more coffee when you guys cut me off. We met in a cafe that I frequented shortly after she moved to Gotham. Ended up talking for a few hours and exchanging numbers.”

“When did you start dating? _How_ did you start dating?” This was asked by Dick, who seemed super excited by the fact that one of his siblings was _actually_ in a relationship.

Mari fielded these questions, smiling at Dick as Tim tightened his grip around her waist. “We started officially dating in early November. Tim asked me to go out with him when we were hanging out at my apartment.”

“And what do you do for a living Ms. Lenoir?”

“Please just call me Marie. I’m an aspiring fashion designer, so I take commissions. I made Tim’s hoodie, actually.”

They all glanced over at Tim, taking note of how high quality it was before noticing that it was a Red Robin hoodie and looking at Tim in exasperation.

“What? I told her Red Robin was my favorite vigilante and she made this for me. Don’t look at me like that.”

“So Marie! Are you the one who’s been bringing Tim those tasty pastries while he’s at work?” Based on what she knew of him, it made sense that Jason would ask about the food.

“Yes. We tend to eat lunch together when we can, and when he has meetings that he complains about I bring him some pastries to help cheer him up. Baking is a hobby of mine.” She smiled brightly. Some of the bats actually _squinted_ when faced with her sunshine-bright smile.

“Woah. You are like a literal ball of sunshine.” _Oh if only he knew; the Sunshine Princess thing was sure to shock him when they found out_ , she mused.

“Tt. How can we be sure she isn’t just another harlot after our family’s money?” That pleasant question originated from none other than Damian, who was defiant in the face of the other bats glaring at him.

“For your information, Damian, I wouldn’t be with her if she was just a gold digger. Marie is the most genuine person I’ve ever met, and she makes more than enough money on her own, she doesn’t need _or_ want ours.” Tim’s glare was the strongest, and Mari gently grabbed his free hand and squeezed it to get him to calm down.

“It’s alright Tim. I expected that sort of question.” She turned to Damian, who still looked defiant. “I’m not after your money. I have more than enough saved from all my commissions, and I have a few consistent celebrity clients.” At this, and the glares he was still receiving, Damian finally relented, sinking down into the couch to sulk.

“So Marie, if you don’t mind my asking, how old are you?”

“I’m seventeen, same as Tim.”

“And are you attending school here in Gotham?”

“I actually graduated early, so I’m not in school at the moment.” She fidgeted a bit nervously and Tim stoked his hand down her arm to soothe her.

“What about your parents? You haven’t mentioned them.” Leave it the serial adopter to ask about the parents.

She hesitated for a second. “Oh, I’m legally emancipated. I live alone. Well, not really alone anymore. Timmy spends so much time at my place that it’s more like _our_ place.” She glanced up at Tim as she poked him teasingly. Bruce seemed like he wanted to ask _why_ she was legally emancipated, but upon seeing the glare on Tim’s face and the way he pulled Mari closer against his side, he thought better of it.

“What do you like to do for fun?” There was Dick, steering the conversation back onto a lighter topic.

“Well I took gymnastics when I was younger, along with parkour and some self defense lessons. I like to practice them when I can.”

Dick perked up even more at the mention of gymnastics, Jason perking up at the mention of self-defense.

“So you’re talented, tiny, know how to fight, _and_ are a literal ray of sunshine? You are officially my new baby sister.” When she went to question this he said “you don’t get a choice,” and that was that apparently.

“You like gymnastics! I grew up in a circus doing the trapeze!” Dick’s excitement made him seem like an overeager puppy. “We even have gymnastics and trapeze equipment in one of the gyms of the manor! You could totally practice here! With me! None of these other losers ever got into it even though I tried to persuade them.” The puppy dog eyes her gave her should be illegal.

“...Yeah, maybe. It would be interesting to practice with someone.” Dick’s enthusiasm was overwhelming.

“What do you and Tim do when you go on dates?” And they were back on relationship stuff. Thanks Jason.

Tim glared at him. “We do normal things, obviously Jason. You know, movies, the park, dinner, games. The stuff couples do?”

Jason rolled his eyes at him. Dick seemed to have a realization, looking intently at Mari as he asked, “since you’re his girlfriend and you spend more time with him than we do, do you know who his coffee dealer is?”

Mari’s face was the picture of innocence. “Coffee dealer? What’s a coffee dealer?”

Dick deflated a little, before hesitantly asking, “...you wouldn’t happen to know how Tim looks so well-rested would you?”

“Well considering he sleeps at my place with me I’d like to think that’s the reason.”

“ _Gasp_ , it’s you?! You can make him sleep?!” Dick appeared to be crying tears of joy, flinging himself off the couch to land at Mari’s feet clutching at her hand as Tim shoved him back. “You must be some sort of magic! The only time I’ve ever seen Tim sleep had been when he crashed after staying awake for too long! Tim if you don’t ask her to marry you I’ll do it for you!”

He got Tim’s foot to his face for that statement. He couldn’t even retaliate because that was the moment Alfred came in and informed them that dinner was ready, prompting them to move to the dining room.

Bruce sat at the head of the table with Dick to his right and Jason to his left. Damian was next to Dick, while Tim sat next to Jason with Marinette right beside him.

Dinner was a lively affair, questions being thrown at Tim and Mari during lulls in the argument Jason and Dick seemed to be having over who would be the better big brother to Mari. Bruce seemed too exasperated and used to their behavior to be embarrassed about it. When Alfred brought the macaroons out and said that she had made them for them, the reactions to the batfam theme were priceless. Dick was cooing over how amazing they looked, Jason looked highly amused, and Bruce looked mildly stressed. Damian just glared at Tim like the whole thing was his fault. It had actually been Mari’s idea but he didn’t need to know that.

They all chose the macaroons that were decorated after them, as she had suspected they might. At Tim’s suggestion she had made some with a spy motif for Alfred, who was former MI6. They must’ve liked them because Dick looked like he was in heaven, Jason had practically inhaled his, Damian was scowling slightly less than before, and Bruce had a tiny smile on his face.

Alfred just straight up complimented them and asked if she would mind sharing the recipe. She was happy to give it to him. Good food should be shared, after all.

She and Tim left after dinner, Tim had the night off from patrol and they wanted to spend some time together, so they went back to their apartment and cuddled up on the couch, watching old movies and laughing at how awful the special effects were.

A few days later Tim informed her that his family loved her, and Bruce had officially extended an invitation for her to spend Christmas with them, which was nice of him. She accepted and got to work on some gifts that she could give them. They planned to reveal that she was MAL to the family as a sort of bonus present for Dick.

She made a black leather jacket for Jason, the inside red with Red Hood’s symbol stitched in a pattern in a special thread that would only be visible when the light hit it _just_ right. Another of his symbol was stitched onto the collar of the jacket. There was also a hidden pocket on the inside, and the whole thing had a magically-imbued bulletproof lining to help keep him safe.

For Dick, she made a nice black hooded jacket with electric blue trim and inside lining, the same shade as his Nightwing costume. His symbol was over the left breast in the same shade of blue. The whole thing, same as Jason’s jacket, was bulletproof.

Bruce would get a new bulletproof black suit jacket with tiny bat cuff links.

Damian was more difficult. From what she knew of him, if the gift wasn’t practical he would probably just give it back. She also knew that he liked swords. A lot. So she worked with Longg to summon a normal-looking version of the dragon’s katana that wouldn’t disappear. Because it was formed of miraculous magic it would be near impossible to break, and she thought that Damian would like it. It would certainly be practical for him.

She also made a gift for Alfred, a nice handkerchief with his initials embroidered on it.

Dick’s gift was the only one she signed with her signature as MAL. She and Tim were looking forward to his reaction.

They had agreed to give each other their gifts in private. They were prone to theatrics and they didn’t need or want an audience.

Before they knew it, it was Christmas time, and they were staying in Tim’s room at the manor. They had endured some light ribbing from his older brothers, but they always slept together. If they didn’t they wouldn’t be able to fall asleep.

They were dragged downstairs at 6 o’clock by Dick on Christmas morning, where they were greeted by the sight of the rest of the boys and Bruce sitting around, obviously also having been dragged downstairs by Dick. The gift exchange went smoothly until they got to the gifts Mari had prepared for them.

One by one the boys opened their gifts, marveling at the quality of the clothing, and in Damian’s case impressed by the craftsmanship of the sword. All of them took notice of the bat details and her explanation was simply “Tim told me they were your favorites,” which they took at face value.

Then Dick found her MAL signature. “Oh my god,” he muttered, blinking and rubbing his eyes. “Oh my god!” All eyes were on Dick. “This, this is an MAL original! I thought you said you made our gifts?!” He was bouncing with excitement as he cradled the jacket against his chest.

“I did make them.” She said slowly, as though she had no idea why he was reacting like this. “I’m MAL. I thought you knew since Tim has been wearing my stuff almost exclusively.” Her innocent act was perfect. Tim had to bury his face in her hair so they wouldn’t see his smirk.

Dick’s jaw dropped. “No way. Tim! How could you not _tell_ me you were dating MAL?! I swear if you mess this up and don’t marry her I’ll kill you myself.” The seriousness of his last statement made them a little nervous.

“Wow. You do some good work Pixie. I love the details. No wonder you’re Jagged Stone’s go-to designer.”

“I’m glad you like it!” The smile on her face lit up the room.

“Where did you get this katana? The craftsmanship is exquisite.” Wow. A compliment from Damian.

“A friend of mine gave it to me a while ago but I had no use for it. I don’t know where he got it from. Tim told me that you like swords, though, and I thought you’d be able to put it to good use.”

He considered this. “I shall do so.”

The rest of the day went smoothly, Mari and Tim finally exchanging presents in his room once everyone had either gone to bed or on patrol. 

Mari had made Tim a bulletproof black hooded coat with red and gold detailing, Red Robin’s symbol on the inside with some hidden pockets. It was professional enough for him to wear for events with a subtle nod to his alter ego.

Tim had gotten Marie a beautiful golden ring with inlaid rubies and onyx that wouldn’t get caught in anything as she worked. It wasn’t a proposal as it was still a bit early for that, but it was a sort of promise; a guarantee that he would always be there for her, wouldn’t abandon her like so many others.

She loved it. She had cried when he explained his reasoning, slipping it onto her right ring finger before launching herself at Tim in a hug. They slept curled up in each other’s arms, basking in each other’s presence.

It was the best Christmas she’d ever had. At this point she was definitely ready to say yes whenever she and Tim talked about marriage. She loved him too much to even entertain the thought of saying no.

They got along so well. They had even been successfully trolling the batfam without being caught! She couldn’t wait for them to realize that she knew all of their identities. And that she’d been helping Tim troll them during their patrols.

Based on their reactions to everything else so far, the chaos that particular reveal would cause was going to be epic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a while. Hope it makes up for the cliffhanger.
> 
> Next chapter is in the works.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The batfam find out Mari knows their identities.

Once they had officially met Marie it became much harder to escape his family. He ended up hiding her address from them on the premise that if she wanted them to know where she lived, she would tell them. It didn’t help that once the girls got back from their trip and met Marie they loved her as well.

His one consolation was the fact that they could troll the rest of the bats during patrol and get away with it. So far, nobody suspected that Marie knew more than she should, besides Alfred, of course. They just figured that since she grew up in a place where there were no heroes or vigilantes (so far as they knew), she was inspired by them. They didn’t have reason to visit Paris often, and when they did they were too busy to hear the local Parisians talk about their heroes.

The French government did a really good job covering up the Hawkmoth situation. He was kinda impressed. And a little pissed. Marie had told him that she’d tried to talk to the officials about involving the Justice League, but was rebuffed. When she asked for help from the League anyways, as Ladybug, she was once again brushed off and told not to waste the League’s time. By Green Lantern. Yeah, Tim was going to chew him out for that one, once he and Marie decided to reveal what had happened.

They would pop by Paris occasionally under a glamour to check in on the fallout, having kept up with and testified for Gabriel’s trial. It was decided that since his crimes were against Paris as whole, he should make up for it by helping the community after he served his time in jail. Watching him do community service ought to be interesting.

Marie had also shown him her favorite places in Paris, though they avoided her old school and home.

They had been together for four and a half months before they ran into a problem with her old class. The Wayne Foundation had held a contest the previous year as an opportunity for one lucky class to come to Gotham in April, where they would tour various places and attend Gotham Academy. The problem was that they couldn’t get ahold of the person who’d won the trip anymore, the president of their class. The teacher wouldn’t say anything and while they technically didn’t need to talk to the winner to set things up, they were supposed to receive an award.

It was driving Tim crazy. He couldn’t find any information about the person that won the trip, _at all_ , which should’ve been impossible. And yet here he was, stressing over his laptop as Marie worked on a project a few feet away.

Judging by the way she looked at him in concern, she’d noticed his stress. “Tim,” she started hesitantly, “is something wrong?”

“It’s just that we’re having trouble getting finding the person who won the contest the Wayne Foundation sponsored last year.” He sighed as he dropped his head in his hands. “I can’t find _anything_ , which shouldn’t be possible.”

Marie paused in thought, paling a bit as she asked him “who are you looking for, exactly?”

He glanced at his notes. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

She paled even further as she walked up behind him, draping her arms over his shoulders. “...I think I can help you with that.” When he glanced up at her in question he noticed how pale and nervous she looked, and as concern slowly washed over his face she spoke again. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng is my previous identity. The one I virtually wiped from existence.” He rose from his seat and turned to embrace her as she continued. “I completely forgot about the contest. Oh Kwami, the trip was supposed to be in April, they’re going to be here next month...”

He hugged her tightly, trying his best to reassure her. “Hey, it’s okay. They won’t have any reason to cross paths with you, and you won’t have to see them if you don’t want to. I can say that I got in touch with the winner and they had transferred schools or something, you won’t have to deal with them at all.”

She pulled back slightly to look up at him, indecision clear on her face. “I don’t want to be associated with them. But I do want to get a little payback, and that will involve seeing them. In person. What do you say? Want to help me ruin my old class?”

A smirk spread across his face. “Help you cause chaos? You couldn’t stop me if you tried.”

The appreciative smile she gave him, the way her eyes lit up at his confirmation, made his heart skip a beat.

A few days later, when they visited the manor for dinner with the family, Bruce asked them for a favor.

“Marie, you mentioned that you grew up in France, correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Well, as I’m sure Tim’s told you the Wayne Foundation is sponsoring a French class’s trip to Gotham, and they’ll be attending Gotham Academy.”

She shared an uncertain glance with Tim. “Yes, he mentioned it.”

“Perfect. I was wondering if both of you would be willing to attend Gotham Academy while the class is here in Gotham. While the school has an advanced French program, there aren’t many students that are fluent. We could use the help; from what we’ve heard most of the class isn’t very proficient in English.”

Tim was the first to respond. “What about work? I’ve got a lot on my plate at WE, and Marie has some commissions coming up. We don’t have time for schoolwork.”

“You wouldn’t be required to do the classwork at all, other than helping the French students understand the assignments, if necessary. You won’t even be required to attend all the classes. And you won’t have to wear the uniform. You’ll basically have free run of the school. As for work, I’ll take over the work for WE. Marie is more than welcome to bring her work to the school if necessary.”

“Well,” Marie started slowly, “I don’t see why not.” It _would_ be a good opportunity to troll the class. Though since they hated her they would need to be careful.

“I guess we can do that.” 

And with that, it was decided; Tim and Marie would be helping out at Gotham Academy with the French students. Which meant they were going to have to adjust their plans.

They had two weeks left before the class would arrive, and three weeks before they would have to attend the school. They’d make it work.

\———————————-————————/

When the batfam finally found out that she knew what they did at night, it wasn’t planned. Timmy had been stuck at the manor without Mari for four days. Which meant four days of no sleep; for both of them. They got a little careless.

Mari had been sitting on her balcony to get some inspiration and fresh air. She also might have been avoiding Tikki’s nagging, but she’d never admit it. She was about to head inside when Tim, as Red Robin, landed right next to her on the balcony, pulling her into a hug and dragging her inside, leaving the balcony doors open.

“Marie, my love, light of my life, goddess of coffee, _please_ grant me some nectar so that I might survive this horrid patrol.” He clasped his hands together and looked down at her pleadingly.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes a bit, letting out a small yawn as she nodded and pulled him towards the kitchen to make some extra strength coffee. In their sleep-deprived states they didn’t notice Nightwing and Red Hood slipping in through the open balcony.

She handed Tim a Red Robin themed thermos full of nectar before taking a sip of her own. He slugged back half the thermos in one go. “That’s better,” he said as the caffeine started kicking in, “thanks for the nectar my beloved coffee dealer.”

There was a loud gasp from behind Tim, and when they both looked they saw Nightwing pointing at Marie with a hand clasped over his mouth. Red Hood was standing right beside him.

“Well shit, I forgot about them. Sorry Marie.”

“It’s okay Red, not your fault.”

At this point Dick finally found his voice, looking back and forth between Tim and Mari. “You- _you’re_ his coffee dealer?!”

“Way to get your priorities straight big bird. Not even going to mention the fact that she _obviously_ knows who we are, and Timbo over here never bothered to tell us.” Jason pulled off his helmet, walking up to the counter to stare down at Marie. “So when did baby bird here spill the beans.”

She blinked up at him, offering him a plate of cookies which he happily started munching on, before responding. “Sometime in November, a few days after we started dating officially. He stumbled through my balcony doors in full costume to ask me for some coffee after you guys cut him off.”

Jason took a moment to process that, still munching on cookies.

“You’re the coffee dealer! You lied to me!” Dick was still having trouble processing, apparently.

“Well, yeah. If I told you you’d probably try to break our deal.” She leaned against Tim, who leaned against her in turn. It was nice to be able to touch him after he’d been locked up in the manor for four days.

“You have a deal?!” She didn’t know why Dick was so shocked, she was called a coffee _dealer_ after all.

“Yeah. If he can give me a good reason why he needs coffee after he gets cut off, I’ll give it to him. If his excuse isn’t good enough I hit him with my Insomnia Cure to make him go to sleep.”

“...Do you mean to tell me you have a concoction that can force Tim to sleep?”

“I came up with it a long time ago so that I could sleep when I really need to. It’s never failed.” Dick started to open his mouth, likely to ask after the recipe. “Trade secret, sorry.”

Dick pouted at that, before catching up to the conversation she’d had with Jason while he was still processing. “Wait a minute. Tim revealed himself, and consequently _us_ to you all because he wanted coffee?”

Tim glared at him. “It wasn’t an accident. I would’ve ended up telling her anyway. If I can’t trust her I can’t trust anyone.”

Dick facepalmed. “Tim, I love you, but you have to _tell us_ when you do this kind of stuff. Now we’ve gotta tell B about it.”

“Does this mean I get to see the batcave? Because I totally want to see the batcave.” Tim had told her about it but she really wanted to see it for herself.

Dick sighed and Jason shrugged. “I’m going to go call this in.” With that, Dick walked back toward the balcony to comm the Bat himself. Mari and Tim made small talk with Jason, who had finished the cookies and was starting on some croissants, while they waited for Dick to finish his call.

“Alright, B-man says that we should bring her back to the cave and cut patrol short. He’ll meet us there.” Jason looked longingly at the rest of the croissants before sighing, putting his helmet on, and walking over to stand next to Dick. Mari went to put some shoes on before rejoining Tim near the counter, grabbing his hand and allowing him to pull her towards the balcony with the others.

The drive back to the cave was short, as the boys didn’t pay attention to speed limits. Mari was used to riding with Tim on his motorcycle when she went on patrol with him, so she was cool with it. They arrived before the big bad Bat, though Alfred was present, as was Barbara, acting as Oracle.

She greeted them enthusiastically before being led around the cave by Tim, stopping near Babs at the batcomputer. Bruce arrived shortly after with Damian in the batmobile.

Which was awesome. Damian looking murderous and Bruce looking serious was less awesome. Bruce didn’t look too mad though, probably having gotten it out of his system after Dick explained the situation. Damian, however, was a little ball of rage, and when the two came up to where they were standing Bruce physically restrained him just in case.

Mari gazed up at Bruce as he looked down at her, assessing. “You haven’t told anyone.” It was worded as a question, but the tone made it seem more like a statement.

“No? After what happened in Paris I understand how important keeping secret identities _secret_ is.”

Bruce went to respond before everything she said caught up to him. “What do you mean ‘after what happened in Paris?’ The League was never made aware of any problems there.”

“You mean you didn’t know? I know the mayor was trying to keep it on the down low, but I thought you guys would’ve heard. We had a super villain for four years. He was defeated recently by Ladybug and Chat Nuit, the heroes of Paris.” All of the bats seemed a little taken aback by this. She knew that they didn’t have any idea, but her and Tim had decided they would tell them when they found out she knew. Which was now.

Bruce glanced at Tim. “Did you know about this?”

“Yeah. Marie told me about it. I didn’t say anything because the villain was magical and the local heroes didn’t want help after they were rebuffed by Green Lantern when they contacted the League for help.”

Bruce removed his cowl and pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath before looking over at Marie. “Could you explain further, please?”

“Sure! The first thing you should know is that I was Ladybug.” It went so quiet in the cave you could hear a pin drop. 

“...What?” Once Jason said it, that seemed to be the general reaction.

“Before you hit me with a million questions, let me explain!” She said this quickly and loudly to gain their attention. “Okay, so as I just mentioned I was Ladybug. The villain, Hawkmoth, showed up in Paris when I was thirteen, and I was chosen by the Guardian of the Miracle Box to wield the ladybug miraculous. My partner at the time, Chat Noir, wielded the cat miraculous.” She gave a quick explanation on the miraculous and their powers, being backed up by Alfred, who had apparently been one of Duusu’s wielders before the miraculous was broken.

“Me and Chat Noir fought well together before he became obsessed with me as Ladybug. After that he was more of a nuisance than a help. Sometimes he didn’t even show up to battles. At first that was fine, but when the previous Guardian was forced to turn over guardianship to me all of my temporary heroes were exposed, so I couldn’t risk using them anymore. I fought mostly on my own until I met Tim.” Tim wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side at this.

“The day after he revealed himself to me I revealed myself to him, though under extenuating circumstances. Chat Noir was in Gotham at the time, and since he was friends with me as a civilian and hadn’t seen me in Paris in a while he snatched me off the street, told me he was going to take me back to Paris. Tim was nearby at the time and didn’t take too kindly to Noir when he saw that he’d injured me. As the Guardian I stripped Chat Noir of his miraculous and cursed him according to the rules of the miraculous.” That part wasn’t true. She’d cursed him because she found it necessary, not that they needed to know that.

“The problem with me retiring Chat Noir was that the ladybug wasn’t meant to be in use without the cat, so I needed to find a new partner. Which ended up being Tim. He is perfectly suited to wield the cat, and he helped me take down Hawkmoth as Chat Nuit. The League was unaware because the mayor did a good job covering it up, and when I contacted the League for help I was told off for wasting the League’s time by Green Lantern. So I didn’t try again.”

She cuddled up against Tim as the batfam processed the info bomb she’d just dropped on them, Barbara already hacking past Paris’s firewalls to pull up videos of the akuma battles. One of which was the battle she had against the bomb-throwing akuma and lava sentimonster, displaying all three of her on screen. The way the fox would appear and disappear caught Dick’s attention. He had caught glimpses of her when she and Tim had been trolling the rest of them for fun.

“I thought you said you retired your temporary heroes?” Dick watched as Ryū used water dragon to solidify the akuma before turning to face Mari. “So who’s helping you here?”

“I am. I used the mouse miraculous to split myself into three, then merged each version of me with a different miraculous before casting an illusion to hide the fact that the mouse was in use.”

The bats all stared at her. “You know what Pixie? You’re pretty badass.” Jason said this right as she as ladybug took out the sentimonster with only her yo-yo after it was distracted by the illusions of the fox.

She rolled her eyes at him.

“The fox costume looks familiar... Wait a minute! You’ve been helping Tim mess with us on patrol!” Aaaand Dick had finally pieced it together.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Dick glared. “I know what I saw. You can’t lie to me.”

She and Tim shared a look, before Tim sighed. “You just love to spoil all our fun, don’t you?”

Dick continued to glare. “You guys made me think Damian was on fire! And I almost fell off the roof like five times!”

Tim and Mari shared a quick chuckle over the reminder of that, Tim deciding to answer. “And we found it hilarious, thank you very much.”

“Boys, enough.” He turned to Mari. “You’ve been going on patrol with Tim?”

“Only sometimes. I was used to patrolling as Ladybug, so I needed to find a new outlet when we nailed Hawkmoth.”

Bruce thought about it for a bit. “Would you like to be an official part of patrols?”

“For real?” She lit up, Jason shielding his eyes in the face of her sunshine smile only half-jokingly.

“Yes, for real. We’d need to assess your skills first, but you seem like you’d make a fine addition to the team.”

“I’d love to!”

“We’ll talk details later. For now, we could all use some sleep. Are you two leaving or staying?”

They shared a look, eventually deciding that home would probably be best. Give everyone some time to process.

“We’ll be going home,” Tim said once he and Mari had finished their silent conversation, “but we’ll come back in the morning so we can discuss this further.”

Everyone dispersed after that, heading upstairs or to the showers. Tim changed into normal clothes before rejoining Mari so they could head home and get some sleep. They were looking forward to it. They’d been separated for four days after all.

It would be interesting to see what the rest of his family would say in the morning once they’d had more time to process everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you’re ready for some more salt.
> 
> Next chapter is in the works, hope you enjoyed this one!


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breakfast with the fam and the class arrives in Gotham.

When they arrived at the manor the next morning, Mari introduced everyone to Tikki, Trixx, Longg, Plagg, and Duusu. She had fixed the peacock miraculous after she retrieved it from Gabriel’s safe, and had brought it over so that Duusu and Alfred could see each other again. The appearance of the tiny gods seemed to perplex the bats, though Alfred had a nice reunion with Duusu. 

“So these are the Kwami of the ladybug, fox, dragon, cat, and peacock miraculous,” Mari said as she gestured at each Kwami in turn. “Tikki, Trixx, Longg, Plagg, and Duusu.” She turned to look at Damian, who as an animal lover seemed the most interested in the Kwami. “I had help from Longg with the magic I used to summon the sword I gave you for Christmas.” That broke the bats out of their silent staring.

“Let me get this straight,” Jason started, putting a hand on Damian’s head. “You gave the Demon Spawn over here a _magic sword_? Does that mean the things you gave us were magic too? Or is he the only one who gets special treatment?” Ok, so Jason was a liiiitle jealous over the magic sword.

“Well I charmed all the clothes I made you to be bulletproof. Does that count?”

Jason considered it. “I guess it does. I still want a magic weapon though.”

Marinette sighed at Jason’s pout, holding her hand out and summoning a six inch dagger that she handed to Jason. “There. Happy now?”

“Oh most definitely,” he responded while he examined the dagger with an almost childlike glee. “It’s official. You’re my favorite sibling.”

The others had been a little shocked at her casual summoning of a weapon, though they put it aside after a moment; they had seen stranger things.

Alfred chose that moment to reappear with Duusu to guide them all into the dining room for breakfast. Once they were settled the questions began.

“What’s the real reason you got rid of your old partner?” _Ouch, a tough one right off the bat._ Tim glared at Damian for asking until Mari put a hand on his knee in silent reassurance.

“He was harassing me. He thought our miraculous meant we were destined to be together, and when I told him in no uncertain words that I didn’t want to be with him like that and that we _weren’t_ destined he threw a fit. Stopped helping during battles, rarely showed up. When he did deign to come help me all he did was harass me.” The silence that followed had a distinct hint of murderous intent.

“So when do we get to skin the cat?” Of course Jason would ask that. Though by the looks of things Damian and Dick were ready to help him. Tim had been ready to skin him since he found Noir cornering her on that rooftop.

“If I’m not allowed to skin him neither are you guys. Next question.”

“Why didn’t you ever pick new people to be temporary heroes?” Mother-hen Dick, still worried over her fighting alone.

“There was nobody I trusted enough to lend a miraculous.”

“Why did you move to Gotham if you were dealing with a villain of your own?”

“Work, a change of scenery, and anonymity.”

The rest of breakfast continued in a similar manner, them asking questions and her answering. After breakfast she was led to a training room for her skill assessment.

She crushed it. All the training she had put herself through with past wielders had made her pretty well-rounded. The bats were all suitably impressed, even Damian. Bruce was satisfied enough that she would be allowed to _officially_ accompany them on patrols and against rogues. The only stipulation he had was that she appear as a bat or bird, to fit in with the rest of the team. 

All she did for that was modify her fox costume. She lost the ears, traded the silver for red, and instead of having the hood attach to a vest she had it attach to a cape that was black on the outside, red on the inside. The cape was split a bit so that it would resemble wings when she ran across the rooftops. She also made sure that her hair was completely black and added a domino mask, to match with the other birds.

Then they had to give her a name. They went through a bunch of suggestions before settling on Ladybird, as a nod to her time as Ladybug.

She would patrol with Tim as she had been doing, but she would no longer be invisible. If she was going to be a vigilante on the bat’s team, she had to be seen with the batfam. She also got to train with them when she wanted, which was fun.

Regular patrols made time go by faster, and before she knew it, it was April. Her old class would be arriving that same day, and in a week she and Tim would begin attending Gotham Academy to ‘help’ them. The others had caught on to the fact that they were up to something, but they didn’t know what. They had yet to be informed of Mari’s past.

She was still nervous to interact with her old class, but as long as Tim was with her she knew that everything would turn out fine.

They had chaos to spread, after all.

\———————————-————————/

The first place Marie’s old class was scheduled to tour was Wayne Enterprises’s main building in downtown Gotham. Dick had volunteered to lead the tour. Based on what he knew of the class, he pitied Dick, who had no idea what he was walking into. When it was time for the lunch break Tim headed down to the cafeteria to check on Dick, finding him slumped at a table with his head in his hands. He looked lost and confused, the poor man.

Good thing Marie had agreed to come over for lunch to help Dick maintain his normal cheery demeanor. 

And there she was now, walking into the cafeteria in a red dress that flared out at the waist and fell to her mid-thigh. It had a sweetheart neckline, and a sheer red material extended up from the neckline, stopping just below her fox choker, which was gold today, and extending over her shoulders and down her arms to give her sheer sleeves that were three-quarter length. There was a gold belt with a Red Robin symbol on it around her waist where the dress flared out, and she had on black knee-high boots. She was also wearing a black backpack and had a small black purse, her arms occupied with a box of pastries she had prepared in advance. Her hair was up in a crown braid, some pieces left down to frame her face.

Once he had taken in her outfit, he blushed. She was wearing _his_ colors and symbol, and judging by the slight smirk on her face when she saw how his face reddened at her appearance, he knew she’d planned it.

She strutted right past all the annoyances of her old life, who were too focused on the girl with sausage hair to notice her, and straight to where Tim was sitting with Dick, placing the box down in front of Dick and leaning down to place a kiss on Tim’s cheek before settling beside him.

Dick glanced up when the box was placed in front of him and smiled when he saw it was from Marie. “Oh thank goodness. Someone sensible. And you brought treats!” He opened the box and discovered it was full of Nightwing themed pastries, which made him tear up a bit as he began to eat some of them.

“You poor thing,” Marie cooed in sympathy. “You shouldn’t have volunteered to lead this class, I could’ve told you from experience that they’re awful.”

Dick glanced up sharply at that, focusing in on Marie. “What do you mean ‘from experience?’ Do you know them?”

She shared a glance with Tim, who shrugged. “I used to be part of that class. I was their class president.”

“You were _what_ now?! But that would mean you were-” He turned to Tim. “I thought you said the trip winner transferred schools! You didn’t mention that they were _Marie_ and had left the _country_!” Dick’s outburst had drawn the attention of the horrid class they were sponsoring, prompting Tim to position himself in a way that would hide Marie’s face from them.

“Would you keep it down, they are literally 15 feet away!” Tim whispered angrily. Dick had the decency to look abashed, going back to eating the pastries Marie had brought him as comfort food.

“You’re going to explain this to us later.”

Tim and Marie shared a sigh, nodding at Dick before moving the conversation onto lighter topics to help lift Dick’s spirits after they were trampled by the inattentive class he was saddled with. This had the unintended bonus of lifting the spirits of all the employees currently in the cafeteria. It was rare for the Moonlight Prince to be in the cafeteria when the Sunshine Princess was visiting, and with an extra Wayne boy with them, it was inevitable that the employees would take to Twitter to gush about how adorable the couple were, and how sweet their Sunshine Princess was to come by to cheer up the eldest Wayne boy.

Tim would be leaving work early to avoid having to deal with the class, so he left with Marie just before the class’s lunch break was over, careful to keep Marie’s face obscured on their way out past the class. They ended up going to a nearby park to kill time, Marie sketching as Tim laid with his head in her lap, just enjoying each other’s company. They left after a few hours, heading over to the manor for dinner, where they knew they were going to be explaining some things.

Dick was nice enough to wait until _after_ dinner, when everyone was gathered in the living room, to bring up what they had mentioned earlier. Since they knew it was coming Marie had curled herself into Tim’s side for comfort, one of his arms wrapped around her shoulders and the other holding one of her hands.

“So, are you ready to explain what you revealed to me earlier? How Marie was part of that horrid class I led on a tour?”

This caught the rest of the family’s attention, all eyes locking onto Marie where she was curled into Tim.

She glanced up, hesitating a little before beginning her explanation. “When I lived in Paris I went by a different name. Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” The bats’ eyes showed their recognition of the name. “I was born and raised in Paris, actually. My parents are bakers, and I’ve technically been a missing person for almost seven months now. Not that you’ll find any digital records of my past identity even if you look.” 

She paused to collect her thoughts before continuing. “The class used to be a lot better than it is now. Most of the students were kind, hardworking, and helpful. But they changed. At the beginning of the school year last year we got a transfer student from Italy. She’s a pathological liar and a skilled manipulator. She lies constantly, about all kinds of things and people, as I’m sure Dick heard during his tour today.” Everyone glanced at Dick as he grimaced and nodded.

“I confronted her about her lies when I realized they would negatively affect my classmates, and because I refused to fall in line she turned the whole class against me. It doesn’t really bother me anymore. If they were really my friends they would’ve believed me over her. At the end of the school year I had a sense of foreboding, so I began preparing to enact one on my Contingency Plans. Fast forward to October and I was right to have prepared. The lies of my class got to my parents, they lost all their faith in me and refused to hear my side of the story. Which is when I knew it was time to enact my chosen contingency. So I left. They didn’t realize I was missing for a week, and when they couldn’t find me after a month they conspired to have a reporter friend of theirs do a spread on me. So I enacted another contingency and erased my previous identity.”

The silence after she finished was deafening. It was broken after several minutes by jason, who let out a whispered “fuck” as he processed everything.

“The liar was the girl with the awful orange clothes and sausage hair, right?” Dick already knew this, but he probably didn’t know her name.

“Yes. Her name is Lila Rossi.”

“Fuck, Pixie. Why did you agree to help out at the Academy when you knew which class was coming?”

“Simple.” She and Tim shared a mischievous smile. “We’re going to use the opportunity to troll the hell out of them and expose the liar.”

“You two are devious.” Jason smirked. “Count me in.”

“Tt. Anyone who is stupid enough to believe a stranger over Marie of all people could use a taste of my blade. If they’re such fools they don’t stand much chance of surviving the duration of their stay.”

“After hearing all the awful things that girl said I’m more than willing to help you guys expose her.”

“Damian we don’t kill people. That goes for you too Jason. I know you were thinking about it.” After glaring at Damian and Jason to drive his point home Bruce turned to Tim and Marie. “That said, we’ll be glad to help you get some payback from your old class.”

Alfred chimed in from the doorway, where he had suddenly appeared to remind everyone it was almost time for patrol. “Most enthusiastically, I’m sure. Pardon the interruption but it’s just about time for your nightly patrol.”

Alfred had fantastic timing. Red Robin and Ladybird weren’t on the patrol schedule tonight, which meant they wouldn’t have to face any further questions. As everyone else filed down into the batcave Marie rounded up all the Kwami, used some magic to turn the peacock broach into a small silver peacock feather shaped pin which she then gave to Alfred, who gratefully accepted, and then dragged Tim out of the manor so they could go home.

They needed to adjust their plans now that the rest of the family was going to be involved, and they needed to finish preparing for the day they would officially meet the class at Gotham Academy. 

They couldn’t wait to see their reactions to Marie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Next chapter is in the works.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for Mari and Tim to attend GA and begin trolling her old class!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know at the end of last chapter I said that the class was going to react to Marie this chapter. But while I was writing this I thought, “but what if they don’t find out until _after_ the trolling?”
> 
> So yeah, we’re holding off on the reactions for now.

The rest of the week leading up to the beginning of when Mari and Tim were to attend Gotham Academy was... interesting, to say the least. There had been multiple complaints about the class from the poor people assigned to be their tour guides, and Lila had already started to lie about the biggest names in the city: the Waynes and the batfam. The Gothamites were _not_ happy when they came across the class only to hear Lila claim that she was in a secret on-again off-again relationship with Tim Drake-Wayne. Especially since everyone knew that he was happily dating the Sunshine Princess. Who Lila also claimed to be.

Now _that_ was gonna piss off the Gothamites. Big time. There was enough information about the Sunshine Princess for everyone with a brain to realize Lila was most definitely _not_ the Sunshine Princess. She couldn’t even put the right name to the Moonlight Prince.

Between the citizens and the rogues Lila would be lucky to leave the city alive. Her claim of being close to the Waynes _and_ the bats, even untrue as it was, was enough to put a big target on the class. The bats ended up having to rotate out on a watch to make sure nothing happened to the class after they heard whisperings of some of the bigger rogues making plans to go after the class.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the class survived their first week in Gotham with only a few minor incidents.

It was time for the class to begin their stint in Gotham Academy.

So it was that on Monday morning Tim and Mari woke bright and early, getting ready and stopping by the manor to pick up Damian, who already attended GA. They arrived at the school before the class, and headed for the auditorium where the class would be formally welcomed to Gotham and meet the class they were expected to learn with. It was also where they’d get their first glance of Tim and Mari, who would be using a glamour to stave off recognition due to a change in plans.

They hung out backstage while they waited for their cue, making little adjustments to their appearance so they’d look their best. Mari had made and prepared their outfits, so for the entire month they attended the school they would be matching. A show of unity. Tim was wearing a comfortable yet stylish black suit with red accents and details. Mari wore a black semi-formal dress with matching details in the same shade of red.

They looked like a power couple. Of course everyone who knew them already _knew_ they were a power couple, they could probably take over the world if they wanted, but the class had no idea.

When they heard their cue they linked arms and walked out onto the stage confidently, striding up to the microphone where Tim introduced them.

“Hello and welcome to Gotham. I’m Tim Drake and this is my wonderful girlfriend Marie Lenoir.” There was some cheering from the class that the French students would be joining, and confusion visible on the faces of the French class, even though Tim was speaking French. “We were asked by my father, the sponsor of the trip, to assist you should you need help during your stay here at the Academy.”

With that, they stepped off to the side to allow the spokesperson to call the ‘assembly’ to an end, leaving for and arriving at the classroom before the students were released. They settled near the whiteboard at the front of the classroom, and when the student arrived the teacher split them up so there was one French student next to every Gotham student.

“Alright, first we’ll do introductions. I’ll be your teacher during your stay, you may address me as Mr. Gray. As you’ve heard these,” he gestured towards the couple at the front of the classroom, “are Tim Drake and Marie Lenoir. They’ll be assisting when necessary.”

“Sir, are they not students here?” One of the Gotham students asked hopefully.

“No, both Marie and I have already graduated from our respective schooling. We’re here as a favor to my father. That said, the normal rules apply. No pictures or video of either of us are to be taken, nor will you spread lies and rumors about us. Unless you want to face the Wayne family lawyers.”

The Gotham students shuddered at Tim’s response, knowing first hand how ruthless those lawyers were. The French students were confused, and some had the nerve to roll their eyes.

“Now, everybody introduce yourself.” Mr. Gray had everyone introduce themself in turn before allowing the students to ask questions. 

Rose went first. “Is the bat family real?”

Mari chuckled a bit, turning to face the class and allowing them to take in her full unobstructed face, using a mild glamour that wouldn’t allow them to realize who she was until she revealed the herself. “Yes, Ms. Lavillant, they are very real.” The whole class broke into excited whispers.

“Really? Oh my gosh! I wonder if I could get an interview...”

“The bats don’t do interviews with tabloid reporters.” _Oof, Tim was going straight for the kill._

There was silence for a moment before Rose let out a teary “why would you say that? Aren’t you Lila’s boyfriend? Why would you insult one of her best friends like that?” The Gotham students looked extremely offended at this. There was no way a Wayne would be caught dead with that sausage-haired liar.

“Yeah! I’m not a tabloid reporter! I only report the truth!”

Tim looked _extremely_ unimpressed. “I’ve never met Lila before in my life. If you had been _paying attention_ instead of listening to her tall tales you would’ve heard that _this_ is my girlfriend,” he motioned to Mari, who gave a little wave. “And you are a tabloid reporter. One glance at your blog told me that.”

Her old class made a lot of noise at this. Accusations and excuses and crocodile tears flying all over the place. Tim, Marie, and the rest of the Gothamites remained unmoved.

“Enough! I don’t know what nonsense you’re going on about but Mr. Drake and Ms. Lenoir are respected members of the community and we will not tolerate any kind of slander against them. Now, let’s begin.”

The Gothamites were well behaved during the lesson, but the Parisians were unruly at best. They kept whispering and shooting accusing glances at Marinette, who was sitting calmly with Tim and helping translate when necessary. This went on until it was time for lunch, at which point Mari and Tim left to retrieve Damian and head to the cafeteria. Mari had prepared lunch and pastries for the three of them to share, making sure to have vegetarian options for Damian.

They sat together at a table at the edge of the cafeteria, Damian looking mildly embarrassed as Mari made sure he ate despite the ever-present scowl on his face. They were approached by the whole of her old class halfway through lunch. Since they all had their backs to the wall, they had seen them coming. Mari sat between Tim and Damian, Tim’s hand resting lightly on her hip as she leaned against him.

Lila led the pack. “I can’t believe it! How could you cheat on me Timmy?” And there were the crocodile tears. The class went to comfort her, but there were some that looked noticeably uncomfortable about it. 

“What are you doing breaking up a relationship? Don’t you have any decency?” Baseless accusations from Alya, yet again.

“Tt. I can’t believe you would believe such a thing. Though considering the harlot you follow it’s no wonder you lack in brain cells.”

Tim and Mari shared a look, struggling to hold back laughter. “Seeing as Tim was most definitely single before we started dating five months ago, I have no idea what you mean.” Her disinterest in speaking to them was clear.

“I’m so sorry you guys! If I had known my boyfriend was going to treat us like this I never would’ve entered the competition that got us this trip!” Lila’s theatrics were unappreciated.

“Based on the records we have from the contest, you were never a participant. The winner was one Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and she was the only member of your class that entered the contest.” Here comes Damian, spitting straight facts. He seemed a bit murderous though. She might have to keep him from maiming them too soon.

“Like we’re supposed to believe that? Marinette was a terrible person, there’s no way she could’ve won the contest.” She turned her livid gaze on Mari. “And you! How could you come to this school if you knew his _real_ girlfriend would be here?!”

Tim’s grip on her hip tightened as Mari reached over to prevent Damian from lunging across the table to stab Alya. “Tim’s never met Lila before in his life, but go off I guess. I’m only here as a favor to Mr. Wayne.”

Alya scoffed. “And how would someone like _you_ know Bruce Wayne?”

Damian actually growled. It was cute that he cared. “Maybe because she’s dating one of his sons you imbecile.”

“Damian, we’ve talked about this.” Tim turned to face the wannabe reporter. “As was previously mentioned, Marie is my girlfriend. Of course she’s met my father. If anyone wants to spread lies about her and slander her name we’d be more than happy to get our lawyers involved. Everyone in the family _loves_ Marie, after all.” This last part was directed straight at Lila, Tim’s eyes piercing as he dared her to keep it up.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! My memory issues must’ve been acting up again! I never meant to cause trouble!” More crocodile tears. Hooray.

“You would do well to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Now leave. You weren’t invited.” She kinda admired Damian’s complete lack of people skills. She wished she could be so bluntly rude.

Though they obviously wanted to argue some more, the harsh looks the Gotham students were giving them for _daring_ to bother the Waynes and the Sunshine Princess were getting to them. They backed off without a fight, trying to minimize the glares.

Mari shared a smirk with Tim. Let the trolling begin.

\——————————-—————————/

Bruce really should’ve known better than to give them free reign of the school. It was too late for him to take it back though, and he and Marie were enjoying every minute of it.

They had started off small. Giving the class directions that were _slightly_ off. Then they would provide incorrect translations of words they wanted to use in English, causing a lot of hilarious sentences and misunderstandings. By week two they were flying down the halls on scooters during their down time, scooting circles around everyone. They even managed to get Damian to join in.

When they got bored with that they invaded the Student Council, fixing their budget and helping them set up new events to confuse the absolute _hell_ out of Marie’s old class. All planned events were required for the French students, as part of the ‘American Schooling Experience.’

The first event they planned with Damian in mind. It was sword fighting, and _all_ members of the class were required to participate. Lila had tried to lie her way out of it when she saw Damian absolutely annihilate Adrien, the one kid in their class with some sword fighting experience. It was amazing. None of the Gotham students were willing to compete when they heard Damian was going to be part of it, so the only ones he would be going up against besides the French kids were him and Marie.

Not a single French student escaped unscathed. Many had bruises, but Lila and Adrien got it the worst; Damian had managed to cut them with his training blade. He and Marie did much better in comparison, both matches ending up in a draw, so they got to share the prize, which was a box of pastries Marie had prepared.

If anybody noticed the fact that the pastries in the box were catered to the three winners they didn’t dare say anything. Damian still had his blade in hand.

The day after the event the class couldn’t even _look_ at Damian without flinching. They had finished planning the next event, which was due to happen in two days, so they found new things to do in their downtime. Marie raided the art department and gave people a crash course on fashion design, earning herself an almost cult-like following for her passion and genuine kindness. Tim, meanwhile, raided the tech department and gave a crash course on basic decryption. He also gained a cultish following.

At lunch that day they had lamented over how they’d gained worshippers after only like an hour or two of them taking over their respective departments.

“Well,” Tim said thoughtfully, “you were already a coffee goddess. It makes sense that your mastery of fashion would earn you the title of fashion goddess.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “The only worshipper I have as the goddess of coffee is you. And besides, now you have your own worshippers as the god of technology. You have ascended.”

Damian seemed disgusted at their interaction. As always. He was the one who had to put up with it the most because of the time they spent with him at school. “You two are ridiculous. If you were any sweeter I’d get a cavity.”

“Aww, Damian! You think we’re sweet?” Marie cooed at him.

He growled lowly as he turned away, not deigning to acknowledge them for the rest of lunch.

They had to actually help the class after lunch, unfortunately. It was always annoying because Lila, who was fluent in English, would pretend not to be in order to try and get closer to Tim. It backfired when Marie took it upon herself to help her, then she was suddenly fluent again.

Seeing all of them looking miserable and covered in bruises was fun, though.

They couldn’t wait for the next event. Jason and Dick would get to join them for it, which would be spectacular. Both of them were itching for a shot at the class that had hurt Marie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Next chapter is in the works, so I hope you’re ready for some more trolling.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more shenanigans.

She was so ready for the next event. The class wouldn’t know what hit them. Literally.

It was paintball. A paintball _tournament_ to be more specific.

They’d come up with this particular event just for Jason, who _really_ wanted to shoot them. But with real bullets. Now unfortunately that was called murder, so they couldn’t do that. Hence paintball. It would satisfy Jason’s overwhelming need to shoot them while only causing a little(ish) damage.

They would be playing in the gymnasium, which had been prepared for the occasion. Obstacles had been set up, along with team bases and plastic coverings for easy cleanup. Anybody who wanted to could participate as long as they had a team. The French class did not have an option and could not split into smaller teams. The event was meant to be students only, but a special exception was made for Dick and Jason, who would be teaming with her, Tim, and Damian.

They’d gotten Bruce to allow it by presenting it as a training exercise.

Each match was 30 minutes long, no matter what. There was no escape. Her old class looked nervous at the sight of Damian. They looked even more nervous when they saw Jason, already in his gear with a paintball gun locked and loaded. He was pretty excited.

The match started, and all bets were off. Mari’s team split up silently to cover more ground, using the obstacles to their advantage. Every so often you could hear a cry of fear as one of their opponents was hit with a paintball. Or five. But really, who’s counting? Their stealth training really paid off, and they had the opposing team jumping and shooting at shadows. 

For extra fear and intimidation factor Dick made sure to show off some of his acrobatic skills, appearing and disappearing with flair and no discernible pattern. 

Damian was like a ghost, suddenly appearing from behind and shooting any enemy he came across. 

Jason climbed up to a good vantage point and just started shooting, freaking people out left and right, taking breaks every so often to watch them panic.

Tim and Mari worked as a team. They would toy with their victims-er enemies. Lure them around with the promise of an easy shot, whisper a few misleading directions, cause them to shoot each other. It was fun.

By the time the 30 minutes was up their opponents hadn’t shot any of them even once. They were all trembling and glancing about nervously as they left the room, and the gathered crowd outside gawked at the paint-covered class who trembled whenever the paint-free birds so much as breathed in their direction. All those paintballs were going to leave some nasty bruises.

Jason seemed satisfied now, so their chances of survival went up at least. Mari and Tim had taken one look at the paint-covered class and promptly burst into laughter, clutching at each other for support as they struggled to stay upright. Messing with people was so much fun. Even Damian looked smugly satisfied at the outcome of the match.

They still had more rounds to compete in, as the event was a tournament-style one, but throughout the entire event not one of them got hit with a paintball. Some teams forfeited just so they wouldn’t have to go against the birds, thoroughly intimidated by the results of the first match.

They won the tournament. Everyone present was left with a new sense of awe and respect for the Wayne boys and their Sunshine Princess. It had been a great bonding exercise.

When they walked into class the next day, arm in arm and matching, the whole class flinched in unison, even the Gothamites. Everyone was bruised but the transfers were the ones who had it the worst, they moved slowly and had bruising visible on most parts of their skin except for their faces; not for lack of trying on Jason’s part. The face shield had been too strong for him to crack.

And he had tried. A lot.

Mari and Tim reveled in the fear of the class. Unfortunately they knew it wouldn’t last. Dealing with so many akumas had pretty much killed any sense of self preservation. The events they had been forced to participate in thus far had been challenging that.

The next event had been planned before Mari and Tim had taken over the Student Council, so they couldn’t get away with modifying it, unfortunately. On the plus side, the last two events had put the class on edge enough that they’d be hyper-aware during the next event, even though nothing would ever happen.

The class had gotten over their fear by the end of the day; they’d ended up stumbling across Mari and Tim when they were in the midst of being dramatic, which effectively gave them a false sense of security.

“Marie, you aren’t going to believe this, but I’m in love with you.” Tim said, out of the blue.

“ _Gasp_ , do you, do you really mean it?” She places a hand on her chest, staring up at him with wide, hopeful eyes.

He swept her up into his arms gazing into her eyes intently. “With my entire being. There’s no one I love more.” He placed a gentle kiss on her lips before pulling back slightly. “Would you allow me the honor of assisting your takeover of the art department?”

“Why, Timothy, I thought you’d never ask!” And with that, they were off to complete Mari’s semi-hostile takeover of the art department. Seriously, it could use the help.

This small bit of drama led the class to (foolishly) believe that what happened during the other events was a one-off. They weren’t proven right _or_ wrong during the next event. Marinette and Tim had been effectively banned from participating.

The detective club had managed to convince the Student Council to let them set up some mysteries as an event to generate some interest in the club. Again, participation was voluntary for everybody _except_ Mari’s old class.

Tim and Mari were banned from participating during the event, as Damian had warned his friend Maps that if they were involved, they would probably solve everything before anybody else even figured out the first clue. He wasn’t wrong, but they had been looking forward to solving some mysteries together.

They ended up staying home and solving cold cases instead, occasionally checking on the class’s progress through the school’s security cameras. They were doing ok, though most of that was due to Max and Markov, who seemed to have been regaining brain cells. Most of the class had been slowly regaining their brain cells since they’d been in Gotham, now that she thought about it. There was some hope for them yet.

Damian later relayed that the detective club had been satisfied with the event, though they had expressed confusion over the stupidity of some of the participants. The event had served its purpose and promoted the detective club, leading to more cases for them, which was nice.

The event had marked the beginning of the third and final week, meaning the class would only be present for six more days. The Wayne Gala would be the upcoming Saturday, with the French students flying back to Paris on Sunday.

Which meant they were on a deadline. They weren’t the only ones, either. Even with the threat of the Wayne family lawyers hanging over her head akin to the sword of Damocles Lila had continued in her attempts to lie her way to the top. Which had ended up provoking Scarecrow. Who had decided to attack the school to get to Lila.

Just what they needed.

\——————————-—————————/

It was a good thing they never left the house without their costumes. Otherwise they would be in a bit of a predicament. As soon as they’d heard the first scream they’d booked it to the nearest abandoned classroom, Marie transforming into Ladybird and Tim changing into his Red Robin costume. The mask that covered the lower half of Marie’s face would keep her from being affected by the fear toxin because _magic_ while Tim had to strap on his bat-brand gas mask.

They were back out in the halls in five minutes, but those five minutes had been enough time for Scarecrow to find the class he’d been looking for, taking them hostage as the other students fled the building.

Good thing the fox miraculous was well-suited for infiltration. The other bats were on their way, and they were all hooked into comms so they could keep up with the situation.

Marie slipped into the classroom unnoticed, Tim heading for the roof to regroup with the others.

“Okay, so I’m in the classroom and it looks like Scarecrow is mad at Lila specifically. Apparently she claimed to have assisted Batman in helping take him down. He took offense to that.”

“That’s no surprise,” Jason snorted over the comms, “just looking at her makes me want to shoot her. She’s just that irritating.”

“Jason!” Dick scolded, “we don’t hurt civilians!”

“It’s not like the harlot doesn’t deserve it.”

“Damian!”

“No names on comms.”

“Sorry B!”

“Ooh, you guys might wanna hurry. Scarecrow just said he’d made a _special_ batch of fear toxin just for her. New recipe.” She paused to listen some more. “And it looks like our favorite liar gets to be the first recipient!”

Batman sighed heavily at the mild cheer in her tone, as well as the small cheers that Nightwing, Red Hood, and Red Robin gave at the news.

“I mean _oh no_! That’s just _awful_!” Hood’s sarcasm, while humorous, was obviously not appreciated by the bat. “Yeah, yeah, stop your glaring. She won’t get hurt.” A pause. “Much.”

“Just get in there, Hood. Ladybird, help Red Robin sneak into the room. Nightwing keep an eye on Hood.  
Robin, with me.”

Orders given, everyone moved to carry them out. Ladybird easily snuck Red into the room, and they got to watch as Lila began her freak out from the fear toxin, screaming and muttering about Ladybug and Marinette. Those were two interesting people to fear.

The illusion was dropped as they took out all the goons in the room before knocking out the Scarecrow himself. They sedated Lila and took a blood sample, also giving her the normal fear toxin antidote. The rest of the class had been gassed with the normal stuff after they’d been tied up and Lila injected, so they had the pleasure of sticking them all with needles containing the antidote.

They untied all the students, letting them work out who carried the liar. Adrien, notably, was not one of those people. He was busy glaring at Red Robin. Made sense given the fact that last time he’d visited Gotham Red had kicked him in the face _and_ the gut. He’d done it protecting Marie, which Adrien had obviously realized meant he knew her personally, as was evidenced by his demand as they were being led out of the building.

“Where’s Marinette? I know she’s still here, and with the way you defended her you obviously know her personally.” He glared at Red, who remained stoic and unaffected. “Where is she?” The class, the conscious ones, stared at Adrien in shock. He’d never mentioned seeing Marinette after she’d gone missing.

“I’m afraid I have no idea who you’re talking about. The young woman that I defended from you when you were last in town was named Marie, not Marinette.” Stone faced Red Robin gave nothing away. He just continued to help Ladybird herd the shocked and confused class toward the paramedics, the rest of the bats having dispersed; Damian had rejoined his class, Jason went home, and Dick was talking to the police with Bruce.

With the class _finally_ in the hands of the medics, Tim and Marie checked in with Bruce and headed off to prepare to rejoin everyone, slipping into the crowd as if they’d been there the entire time.

Lila was quickly taken care of, and because this was Gotham they were talking about, everybody went back to class once the police gave the all clear. Which the French kids complained about endlessly. They were used to school being cut short at the first sighting of an akuma.

Since Bustier had been sent back to Paris when the Waynes, specifically Dick, witnessed her questionable teaching methods, the class had nobody to try and get them out of it. The school board had also been contacted about the problem with Bustier, sparking an investigation into the school. Things didn’t look good for Bustier and Damocles.

Adrien was stuck surrounded by classmates who wanted to know what he meant when he’d asked Red Robin where Marinette was, and were outraged that he’d never told them. His weak excuses did nothing to placate them. Marie and Tim had been enjoying his predicament too much to do anything about it, which they would later regret.

Their lack of action meant that Alya had time to inform Marie’s parents that she’d been spotted in Gotham.

Nothing good could come of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is in the works, hope you enjoyed this one!


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reveal.

The rest of the week passed by quickly. Mari and Tim had toned back their trolling _just_ a little, as the majority of the class seemed to have begun taking things Lila said with a grain of salt. They were also still being cold to Adrien for neglecting to tell them he’d seen Marinette the last time he was in Gotham. He’d skirted around the part where Red Robin mentioned he’d defended her from him.

All the normal students were lamenting the loss of the celestial couple and the chaos they wrought. The French students were just happy they wouldn’t have to deal with them _or_ their crazy events anymore.

Everyone was looking forward to the gala, which the class was to attend. It was only after the gala that they’d get their surprise.

Of course, the night before the gala Mari got a surprise of her own. Her and Tim had gone out for dinner, returning to the apartment to cuddle and speculate about what the class’s reaction would be after the gala.

They were cuddled up on the couch, enjoying each other’s company, when Tim surprised her out of the blue, pulling back slightly to be able to gaze into her eyes.

“Marie, you are, quite literally, my favorite person. Ever. You _get_ me in a way nobody else has. I’ve had more fun trolling people with you in the past six months than I’ve had in probably the last six years. And you know what they say: the couple that trolls together stays together. So,” here he pulled out a small jewelry box, presenting it to Mari as he gazed into her eyes, “would you do me the honor of marrying me?”

“Tim,” she breathed, tears springing to her eyes. “Did you even have to ask? Now I’m gonna cry! You’re such a sap! Of course I’ll marry you! We’ve been practically married since before we even began dating!”

“You’re right, of course. But we needed to make it official sometime,” he joked. “And just think of all the additional chaos this will cause when we make the announcement tomorrow at the gala; my brothers will be kicking themselves for not noticing when we got engaged.”

“You got a good point there. Their reactions are always hilarious. Now let’s see this ring you got me.” She took the jewelry box from his hand and opened it.

There were actually two rings in the box, one more traditional and one more sentimental. The traditional one was a nice gold band with beautiful red he’d gemstones. The sentimental one on the other hand, while still gold, had a split band, one part curling higher than the other. It resembled a pair of tree branches. On one branch was a small Robin, and on the other, a ladybug. She loved it.

Tim slipped the traditional band on her left ring finger and the other one on her right pointer finger.

“I love them! And you, of course.” With that she pulled Tim into a long kiss, reveling in the elation that came with being newly engaged.

They separated only when they needed air, checking the time and realizing that they would need to sleep if they wanted to make it through the day tomorrow. So they went to sleep, fantasizing about the chaos they were going to stir up at the news of their betrothal.

The next morning, they awoke content. They didn’t have to prepare for the gala for a good few hours, so they spent their time going over the plans and marveling at the fact that they were actually engaged. Eventually they had to leave for the manor to get ready, as the Waynes would be arriving together.

They made no mention of their engagement, and none of the boys noticed the ring because Mari and Tim had decided that she would go without it until just before the announcement, to avoid suspicion from the bats.

The gala was a rather normal affair, though the class seemed to enjoy it. All the Waynes were decked out in MAL originals, along with the designer herself. Lila was attempting to lie her way into some of the rich people’s good graces, while the rest of the class was gushing over the various attending celebrities, which included Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale.

Mari danced with all the boys, including Damian and Bruce, but she spent most of her time with Tim. They were constantly speculating about how the boys would react to their engagement, and their laughter and mischievous smirks made the rest of the Waynes suspicious.

It wasn’t until the gala was almost over that Tim announced their engagement, all of the bats immediately zeroing in on the ring on Mari’s finger that they could’ve _sworn_ wasn’t there earlier. The shock that showed on their faces was hilarious, though they quickly hid it in an attempt to make it seem as though they’d known the whole time.

Their eyes screamed that they would be interrogating the couple at the first opportunity. They would have several hours to wait. As the gala was drawn to a close, people enthusiastically congratulating the celestial couple on their engagement, the class was asked to remain behind.

Once everyone but the class was gone, Mari dropped her glamour, turning with Tim to face her old classmates. The absolute shock on their faces was _priceless_. Especially since they were all in shock over the engagement, as Lila had claimed Tim dumped Mari for her. She’d essentially exposed herself.

“Wait, Marinette? Marie was Marinette the whole time?”  
This asked by a dumbfounded Adrien, who was kicking himself over missing it.

The picture of innocence, Mari responded in confusion. “You mean you didn’t know? I thought you guys were just being nice, using my chosen name. You didn’t recognize me?” Of course, they _couldn’t_ have recognized her with the glamour she’d had on, but they didn’t know that.

The class seemed to collectively facepalm, taking in how Marie was obviously Marinette. They felt incredibly stupid.

“...I can’t believe we didn’t realize it.” Alix’s statement sparked murmurs of agreement.

“So Adrien did see you when he was last in Gotham,” Alya seemed to slowly be piercing things together. “But that would mean you’ve been in Gotham the whole time. Why did you leave Mari? Everybody’s thought you were missing!”

“That was the point. After everything that happened with school and the constant akuma attacks I needed a fresh start. So I moved here.”

“But what about _us_? What about your family? Why didn’t you tell us? And how did you get rid of all your information like that?”

“But, you told me we weren’t friends anymore. The whole point of me coming here was to remain lost. And get rid of my information? I didn’t have anything to do with that. I don’t know what happened.” Her confusion, while false, was enough to convince the class of her innocence.

The class seemed ashamed at that, well, all except Lila but she was a lost cause. Kim suddenly realized something. “Wait. If you’re Marie, then you were one of the ones who planned those events! You completely obliterated us in paintball!” 

As he paused for a moment, Alya realizing something else. “And you’re _engaged_ to a _Wayne_! How did you even meet a Wayne in the first place?!”

She and Tim shared a glance, deciding not to reply to that.

“Well! We just thought we’d clear things up after Adrien mentioned that he’d seen me. Time for you to go! Don’t worry, there’s no need to remain in contact!” And with that, the class was escorted, shocked and mildly protesting, from the building.

She let out a sigh, leaning into Tim’s side as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

“So. When were you going to _tell_ us you got engaged?!”

“At the gala. Like we just did.”

Jason took over when it was clear Dick was going to take a minute to recover from the frustration of their answer. “Okay, rephrase. _When_ did you get engaged?”

They shared a glance. “When do you _think_ we got engaged?”

Jason rolled his eyes, Dick looking heavenward in frustration as he put his head in his hands.

“Stop tormenting your brothers. Give us a straight, _accurate_ answer. Alfred will know if you’re lying.” Bruce just _had_ to ruin their fun.

As Tim opened his mouth to reply, Alfred raised an eyebrow. Tim let out a sigh and glared a little, finally replying truthfully. “Last night.”

They could practically _see_ Dick’s head explode, but before he could get a word out Jason had begun dragging him toward the exit.

“Alright, I think it’s time for us to head back to the manor. You can freak out about this on the ride home Dicky.”

The rest of them glanced at each other before collectively shrugging and following Jason out the door.

They hadn’t even made it to the limo before they were accosted by two people that were _supposed_ to be back in Paris; her parents.

\———————————-————————/

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng! _There_ you are!”

Marie froze, expression shifting from amusement to slightly fearful confusion. He hated it when she was afraid. He pulled her closer against his side as he glared at the two obstacles that had appeared out of nowhere. His brothers had similarly stopped in their tracks to glare at the interruption.

“How could you run away like that! We were just trying to do what’s best for you, and you disappear! If Alya hadn’t told us Adrien had seen you here in Gotham we never could’ve found you. And you’re here with a bunch of _men_! Now, you’ll be coming back to Paris with us young lady.” Sabine did all the talking, and her scolding had only earner her harsher glares from him and his family. When Tom reached out to pull her away from Tim, he stepped back to keep Marie out of his reach, his brothers closing ranks around them.

Bruce stepped up in front of the parents. “I’m afraid she won’t be going anywhere with you. As the person you claim her to be doesn’t legally exist, and she got herself legally emancipated, you have no right to her.”

They looked offended. “How dare you! Just because she somehow managed to erase her records doesn’t mean she’s not our daughter! And she’s still 17, as her legal guardians we have the right to bring her back with us!”

“Where’s your proof that she is who you say she is?”

They spluttered. “Just who do you think you are?” Sabine’s glared, prompting Bruce to pull out the Bat Glare™️.

“I’m Bruce Wayne. And Marie is my future daughter-in-law.” He said as Marie was guided into the limo by the bat boys.

They paled at this before backing off, knowing the power that the Wayne family had. He gave them one final glare before rejoining his family in the limo, Alfred silently beginning the drive back to the manor.

The confrontation had brought their mood down, the ride uncharacteristically silent as nobody said anything, Marie burrowing into Tim’s side as he soothed her. When they finally arrived at the manor everyone was a lot calmer, though some of the boys still had a slightly murderous aura about them.

“...I still can’t believe you got engaged last night and didn’t tell us. And you didn’t even let us watch!” Dick’s indignation broke through the tense silence.

“And let you mess it up? Yeah, no thanks.”

Marie giggled a bit. “Don’t worry Dick, it was sufficiently sappy. We were already basically married, now it’s going to be official.”

Dick continued to pout.

“Well, we’ll be going to bed. If you’ll excuse us.” Tim and Marie swept up the stairs and headed for his room, where they got ready for the night and settled into bed, facing each other.

“Are you alright?” Concern leaked from his tone as he gazed at his beloved Marie.

She moved further into his embrace. “...I will be. And now, they know better than to come after me. I don’t have to worry about them anymore. Plus, I have you here to comfort me.” She smiled up at him softly, leaning up for a kiss, which he granted her.

Reassured that she would be fine, Tim settled them into a more comfortable position and they basked in each other’s presence, quickly falling asleep in the warmth of their shared embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Next chapter is in the works.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! This is more of an epilogue than a chapter tbh.

With the departure of the class everything went back to normal. For the most part. They did have a wedding to plan, after all. The wedding wouldn’t be until after they’d both turned 18, and since both of their birthdays were in July, just ten days apart, it was decided that they would have a joint birthday celebration.

Mari’s birthday was the 9th, and Tim’s the 19th, so they would hold the joint celebration on the 14th. Their wedding would be held in October, the month they had met. Mari would be making both their outfits, of course.

The next few months flew by, nothing too major happening besides a few Arkham breakouts. As the Guardian there were times they she would have to find and fix an imbalance in the world, like when she took Tim with her to destroy the remaining Lazarus Pits. She had _not_ been happy to learn about Jason and Damian’s time spent _actually dead_ , but she’d managed to cure them of the lingering destructive energy on their souls with her magic.

Ever since the first time the others learned that Mari had been dragging Tim around with her to keep the balance they’d been desperately trying to see what he looked like when he transformed as the cat. They didn’t manage it until after Mari had met Selina and immediately pegged her as Catwoman.

They were all hanging out in the cave just before patrol when Mari’s Guardian senses alerted her to something, prompting her to run over to Tim as she merged the ladybug with the fox. Tim looked around at all the people in the cave, sighed, and called for his own transformation. As he’d been wearing his Red Robin suit before he transformed, the similarities were obvious.

“Ah, damn. I thought it might be something embarrassing.”

Tim glared at Jason. “Why would you think that?”

“Did you _see_ the last cat’s costume?”

“...Point taken.”

“I think it suits him.”

“Well of course _you_ would. Cats are your whole theme.”

“We gotta go. You can complain about Tim’s practicality later.” And with that Tim was rushed through a portal with Mari to who knows where; it was better not to ask.

The bat boys remained disappointed that the only part of Tim’s costume they could tease him about were the ears, which were apparently non-negotiable. They couldn’t tease Mari about her original Ladybug costume either. Whenever they tried she would tear them to shreds over their previous costume choices. It wasn’t fun for them.

Time seemed to fly by. Punching bad guys and doing commissions along with helping Tim troll the family kept her busy. She’d taken a break once to visit the Watchtower with Batman, watching him tear into the other members of the JL for their ignorance of the Paris situation. Guy Gardner got the worst of it, having been the one to rebuff Ladybug when she asked for help. She hadn’t been the only one to call, however, and multiple members of the League had ignored the situation after giving it a brief examination. Batman wasn’t happy about that.

Mari had been endlessly amused as she watched the League cower under the weight of Batman’s glare. Then Wonder Woman and Aquaman had joined in the berating; they knew of the miraculous and the dangers that came with them.

It was glorious. The others hadn’t been able to visit with them so she’d live-streamed the scolding for them, recording it for those that weren’t able to see it live. The expressions on the Leaguers’s faces when she hopped down at Batman’s cue were priceless. The horror at how someone so young was left to deal with an adult villain plainly visible on their faces.

“This is Ladybug, also known as Ladybird. She was chosen to fight when she was _13_.”

“Nice to meet you, I guess.” Her yo-yo beeped, a reminder for her date with Tim. “Alright B, I’ve gotta go if I’m going to be on time for my date with Red. I’ll see you later!” And then she was gone, though the footage was still rolling from the camera she’d set up.

They had a great time watching all the footage after their date.

Before they knew it, it was time for their birthday celebration. It ended up being a lot more extravagant than Mari had expected, and there were a _lot_ of people attending. Luckily she knew most of them. This also marked the first time that she met Tim’s friends in person. They had been off-world during the gala when their engagement was announced, so they were completely blindsided when Tim casually introduced her as his fiancé.

“Fiancé?! Last I checked you were still tragically single!”

“...When did you last check, exactly?”

“...”

“That’s what I thought.”

“Still! How did you get yourself _engaged_ when you rarely left the house?”

Tim looked over at Mari with a soft smile on his face. “Luck.”

“And maybe a tiny bit of magic,” Mari confesses. “As true wielders of complementary miraculous our souls are drawn to each other.”

“What’s a miraculous?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Tim. Is your fiancé a hero?”

“...Well, _technically_ she’s a vigilante now that she rolls with the bats.”

“I can’t believe you. I’m gonna go attempt to process this.”

“Bye Kon! It was nice to meet you!” Mari waved after him, turning to Tim. “That was fun.”

“Mari! My favorite niece!”

She sighed, glancing up at Tim. “Ready to face the overexcited uncle?”

“For you? Anytime.”

The birthday bash hadn’t been as awful as they’d thought it would be. Messing with Tim’s friends and spending time with family had been a nice way to celebrate. Especially since nobody but her parents and clients had wished her a happy birthday the previous year.

The bats hadn’t been too happy about that. Probably why their party was so extravagant. At least she knew they cared. Damian had even allowed her to hug him. Progress.

They had a nice time, and the next event they would be attending would be their own wedding. Mari had completed Tim’s suit, though she was still working on her dress. He wasn’t allowed to see it until the day of.

The wedding would be held at the manor, and it would be a very private event. Bruce had agreed to walk her down the aisle with Alfred. The girls had agreed to be her bridesmaids, and the boys Tim’s groomsmen. Kon was to be Tim’s best man, and Dick had _literally_ fought Jason over who would get to be Mari’s maid of honor, only to lose to Cass.

Before they knew it, it was time for the big day.

\———————————-————————/

The wedding was beautiful and went off without a hitch, surprisingly. Everyone looked amazing in their MAL, soon to be MDW, originals. Marie herself was absolutely gorgeous,  
As she always was in Tim’s eyes.

Their vows had been sufficiently romantic and sappy enough to make most people cry, though certain people would never admit it. They took loads of wedding pictures, some of which would be shared with the public, as everyone was ecstatic that the celestial couple was tying the knot.

Everyone back in Paris could only see the pictures after the fact, mourning the loss of the one person who had always helped them no matter what. Lila and Alya had been served a lawsuit by the Wayne lawyers, though they were being sued by a bunch of celebrities. They weren’t too happy about that.

After her second rebrand, Marie revealed that she was MDW, and people loved her even more for it. It certainly explained why the Wayne family always had the newest MDW originals. She’d gotten caught up in some kidnapping attempts for it, but she had _all_ the bats to back her up, so the attempts didn’t get far. Especially when Red Robin showed up in a rage.

There was a theory going around that Red had a crush on Marie Drake-Wayne. The boys found it hilarious. Until they got trolled, that is. If anything Tim and Marie’s trolling efforts had only increased over time. As long as he was let in on it Alfred promised not to snitch.

They loved chaos and pleasant surprises, so it’s no surprise that they liked to mess with each other every once in a while. Like when Marie got him super concerned after a trip to the doctor, only to reveal that she was pregnant when he was just beginning to panic. It had taken him a while to process, but when he managed he had swept her up into his arms and poured his love for her into a long, intimate kiss.

“So, you ready to cause some more chaos with this news?” Marie looked up at him with a brilliant smile.

He gave her a smile of his own. “The city isn’t going to know what hit them.”

They shared a mischievous smirk and got to planning. You couldn’t properly execute a plan without having some contingencies at the ready, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was the last chapter for this story. I may end up posting some snippets from this au, but that’s a big maybe. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the story as a whole.
> 
> If you didn’t hate my writing style and are interested in some more Timinette, I _am_ working on another story. First chapter of that will be released soonish. Whenever I finish said first chapter.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Gotham Mouse, Paris Bug](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24075763) by [izzybelledot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/izzybelledot/pseuds/izzybelledot)
  * [Scarred, Broken, and Mended](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26467684) by [s_and_n_write](https://archiveofourown.org/users/s_and_n_write/pseuds/s_and_n_write)




End file.
